Tinker Toybox
by Hitsugi Zirkus
Summary: Sequel to 'Clockwork Circus'. After the bloody events of Halloween, Leo thought there were no questions left to answer. But Xerxes Break ventures them down to the infernal womb where all their stories began: Hell. There's a saying that humans are just the Devil's playthings. And the freaks of a certain circus just might have been some of his favorite toys. Elliot/Leo
1. Winding the Clock: A Prologue

**A/N: **And so comes the sequel for _Clockwork Circus _(that I'm hoping was anticipated for, even a little -nervous chuckle-)! I wanted to wait until the 1st of December until I published it since that's when this sequel will be taking place. I just like the idea of creepy winter nights -smiles-

I hope you will enjoy, please regard me kindly -bows-

**Tinker Toybox**

_**Winding the Clock: A Prologue**_

How much can a body be replaced and rearranged

Like a puzzle

Until we cease to be human?

When do the jutting bones and steel frames,

Wooden joints and glass eyes and stitches,

Make us unrecognizable as human beings?

We add more and more to ourselves, add to what was missing,

In order to "fix" ourselves, make something "beautiful" again.

"_It's always been obvious to me, that I'm not completely human. Even before I was stitched together for the first time, it was something I felt. But I could hide feelings. I could still go around, pretend_."

We say it often enough,

"It's only human."

But is it human to kill, to steal, to lie?

Any animal could do that, but we see any beast as lesser than us,

The ones who hurt, who are cruel and kind at the same time.

"I was born this way and there's nothing I can do about it."

Of course no one thinks that.

"_It's not like I hold any resentment towards them. This is who I am, Leo. After awhile, getting up on that stage, I just pretended I wasn't myself. I was just a performer. So I performed a show. And they watched. They always just watched. ...You didn't though, did you_?"

Consider:

More than other creatures on this earth,

Than even the demons toying and gambling below,

We have the most masks, the most cosmetics and costumes

To make us "human" again.

Humans will never not want to be human.

Those of us who are different just want to die -

As quietly as possible.

* * *

Slowly, Leo's fingers danced over the dusty piano keys, the notes melancholy and flat as he played a song. The song wasn't something he heard before, but based on the blots of notes on the sheet music, the quill with the drying ink laying on top of it, the piece had been something in the middle of its creation. Over and over, Leo played the notes he could make out, frowning deeply when the song came out to be something dark. Sinister. Like shadows drawing closer.

When he had finally gotten the courage to enter the music room of the Baskerville mansion, he found the piano there, just as his foster father, Glen, had left it. And of course it would be. It would remain here, collecting dust, keys getting out of tune, inner workings becoming worn. Leo went over tentatively, recalling all the times when he'd visit the violet-eyed enigma that was his foster father.

There had been plenty of times when Leo would wake up in the middle of the night, following the sounds of music that waltzed in the air. Sometimes the pieces could be quite beautiful, as if a song from a childhood dream.

Other times...

Well, as Leo played the last note, closing his eyes, he knew this piece was one of those "other time" compositions that Glen created whenever he was in a dark mood. As a child, and even as a teenager, Leo never understood why Glen would get into these moods. Thinking it over, he didn't know his foster father at all.

A little over a month ago unlocked the reason why.

Leo shook his head, rubbing his hand over his face as he let out a deep breath. Slowly, his fingertips felt around his eyes, stretching out toward around his ears, seeking out the familiar wires and lens of his glasses that he had always worn but finding only his skin. He had never needed glasses anyway - yet another secret that had been from Glen.

_Tink_. His finger pressed down on a key. _Chink_. Like a ticking clock.

Midnight-purple eyes glanced over outside to the gray skies of the early morning. Down below was the backyard of the mansion, the trees nearly naked now with the coming winter. On Halloween night, Leo had gone to the backyard with the others of the Baskerville family to bury Charlotte. The morning after, a band of freaks had gone to bury Oz right next to her.

_Tink_. _Chink_.

Leo winced at the thought. Oz... The first person he felt he could connect to, and truly his first friend. But the innocent blond boy with the scarred face was the one being manipulated into pulling the strings of bringing a man named Jack Vessalius back to life. And he had been a half-demon.

_Part demon, just like me_. Oz had died, though. Oz had died in a brutal way, and even though he had been the one to kill Charlotte, yet Leo couldn't bring himself to hate him. He had just been scared...and alone. Leo couldn't hate someone like that. Leo could only hate himself, and he did, with every day that passed, with every time he would see Gilbert in the hallway with saddened eyes, with every time his gaze would go off outside to that grave...

_Tink. Chink_.

Graves and death. Along with the rest of the Baskervilles, all special people called Crimson Fausts, he had been killing all his life. It wasn't until recently, when he was the one to lose so many people at once, that he began to feel remorse and regret...

_Tink_...

Just as Leo straightened his posture again, ready to try the piece once more, a slow drawl of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. It came again, small and white like petals of a flower, raining down softly.

"Ohh... It looks like snow..."

* * *

**Ending A/N**: I am seriously crazy for starting another story when I have five other ones to attend to, but dammit if I just need something dark to write -falls over-

Your thoughts would be pleasant -shuffles feet-


	2. 1st Hour: Solitary Confinement

**A/N: **It's been getting very cold lately, and windy. It seems like everyday is just grey, but that's okay with me. I'm still just waiting and hoping for snow, wouldn't that be niiiiice? -falls- Anyway, I hope everyone had a pleasant Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate~ -smiles- This will be my last update for this fic this year, so let's hope in this approaching year I can put up many new chapters~

For now, please regard me kindly and enjoy -bows-

_**1st Hour: Solitary Confinement**_

_Little feet walked quickly down the hallway. It was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep, leaving the mansion's corridors eerily empty and __pitch-black. Numerous times Leo tried to tell his nine-year-old self that it was merely darkness - he knew the mansion well and nothing was there with him that he didn't already know about._

_Except that thought wasn't as reassuring as it should be._

_His brea__th got a little faster, and he pushed up his glasses - they still felt too large for his face and kept drooping down his nose - as his eyes darted left and right. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like something was watching him. Leo tremble__d, picking up his pace as he ran his way down to the music room. Since Glen wasn't in his __bedroom that__ was the only other place he could be. His ears listened carefully, trying to pick up the sound of notes, but only getting silence._

_"Hey,__ what are you doing up so late?" _

_Leo yelped, his knees giving out as he fell to the floor. His glasses clattered off his face and he quickly scrambled to retrieve them. Then he heard a rather familiar scoff and looked up. "Ah! Ch-Charlotte...?" Leo stutte__red. His heart was racing as he put his glasses back on._

_A thirteen-year-old girl stepped out of a room to his left, pink hair slightly tangled and a short, lacy nightgown over her slender body. Glen had found Charlotte, Leo's now "adopted sister," but a f__ew weeks ago two towns down. So far, she was the first person Leo met who was just like him._

_She tilted her head, staring him__ up and down. __"Don't tell me you're scared of the dark. Honestly, now?" she tease__d, crossing her arms over her chest, which was already well-developed for her age._

_Leo's __cheeks grew warm. "No, I'm not!"__ he said in what he was glad to hear was a rather strong tone. H__e picked himself off the ground__. "I was going to see Papa."_

_Charlotte blinked in surprise. Leo noticed she got rather flustered a lot at the mention of Glen, and figured he read enough books to know why. Normally, he'd either ignore th__is or tease her about it, but right now it was dark, scary, and too quiet. He'd settle for Charlotte's company. "You're awake. Want to go see him, too?"_

_"I..." She considered, twisting a lock of her hair. "F-fine. But won't we be disturbing him?" she asked__ dubiously, closing her door. Her footsteps echoed with his, her long legs carrying her __ahead though. Leo couldn't help but notice she was fussing with her hair and smoothing her clothing over._

_Her question made him giggle. "Papa won't mind. And I've never__ seen him sleep before," he said lightl__y, holding__ the hem of Charlotte's nightgown._

_She glared at him and looked like she'd snatch herself away. But then she huffed and looked away, still trying to comb out the tangles in her hair wit__h her fingers. "Don't be silly, everyone must sleep. Lord...Lord Glen must look so serene when he does..."_

_Leo frowned. "I guess? …__Say, Charlotte?"_

_"What is it?" she sighed with extreme patience, as if hoping he wouldn't speak again. In the distance, Leo's ears picked up the soft sounds of a piano. His previously relaxing muscles tensed again. Charlotte seemed to hear them t__oo, as she picked up her pace and followed the trail of the song._

_"Why do you call him 'Lord Glen'? You can just say what I say, you know," Leo offered, pushing up his glasses again. His bangs were getting in the way too. "It's not like I'm his real son ei__ther."_

_Something of a choking sound started out of Charlotte. "A-a-are you daft!? I could never call him such a thing! You're mad, I could never-! He's Lord Glen to me, okay? Lord Glen!" she exclaimed in such a frenzy Leo was surprised to have caught a wor__d. Her words echoed ominously for a moment in the hallway and after a pause, the two walked just a little bit closer together._

_A chill ran down Leo's spine then suddenly, and he hugged Charlotte tightly around the waist. She yelped, trying to shake him off__. "What the heck, you little twerp-!" Then she screamed at the same time Leo did as the back of his collar was gripped. Though almost immediately he was released as a hard smack sounded in the hallway._

_Leo backed himself to the wall and tried to calm __himself, his mind reeling at all the possibilities of what could be there with them. Then Charlotte shrieked again, except this time she was fussing over another figure in the hallway. He glanced around, feeling the thick velvet of a curtain with relief an__d pulling it aside._

_Moonlight streamed into the mansion's hallway, pearly light shining down on Leo, Charlotte...and Glen Baskerville._

_Even though she had spent the past few minutes trying to fix it, Charlotte was raking her fingers through her hair, fisti__ng it with a wild look in her eyes. "No no no no, oh Abyss, Lord __Glen, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize and and I can't believe I hiiiit yoooou, aaaah! Oh no, please don't tell me it hurts, it hurts, doesn't iiiiiit-!?"_

_Glen was rubbing his cheek rather abs__ently, his other hand trying to reach out for the panicking girl to calm her. Leo ignored Charlotte raving about and instead walked around her in order to hug Glen tightly. He didn't even realize tears were blurring his new vision and that he was sniffing._

_"P-P__apa, I got so scared!__ I didn't mean to be walking around__ but__-"_

_"What if it leaves a bruise? Ohhhhh nooooo, what will I do then, I hit Lord Gleeeeen-"_

_"-I just had that nightmare again and I-I tried to go back to sleep but then-"_

_"-we should put__ ice or something on it, right, I'm such a terrible persooooon-!"_

_"Papa!" "Lord Gleeeen!"_

_Both of them looked up at the raven-haired man with wide, teary eyes, breathing heavily after their rant, soft sobs leaving their trembling lips. Glen merely stood th__ere, looking slowly from one of them to the other. He looked severely out of his element, his lips twisting uncertainly. There was no annoyance or anger on his countenance, just...something like childish confusion._

_Finally, he reached out, then pulled back__, then reached out again more surely this time and patted each of their heads. They blinked in surprise._

_"Th-__There. There." His words were stiff, uncertain._

_Leo glanced over at Charlotte, who he realized was looking at him as well. Slowly, their distress__ed expressions melted into one of abashed relief, awkward chuckles leaving them. Leo felt his cheeks heat up as he quickly wiped away at his tears. He suddenly felt so silly._

_The two Baskerville children ended up following Glen back to his room. Leo had ex__pected Charlotte to protest at first, but she steadily followed along, constantly looking from the floor up to Glen's face. That was good - Leo didn't want her to be alone._

_"You say you had a nig__htmare?"_

_Charlotte was curled up, asleep beside Leo, her face soft, calm, and content. Leo sat in between them, knees brought up to his chest as Glen's violet eyes slowly went over to Leo's face._

_"Was it about the monster again, the one that crawls itself inside yo__u?"_

_A small whimper almost left Leo at the mere memory of it, and all he could manage was a tiny nod. He brought his knees closer to himself, looking down at his feet. "But...but it's okay now. I forgot about it."_

_Glen tilted his head curiously._ _Sheepishly__, Leo buried himself deeper in the covers and snuggled up to his father. His feet brushed against the fabric of Charlotte's nightgown, the lace silky against his skin. "I forgot because I had fun with you and Charlotte."_

_Now Glen blinked uncertainly. "Did __we...do something fun?" He sounded like he was reviewing this night's events for something he missed. It made Leo smile a little as he shook his head, growing sleepy._

_"No. I mean I like being close with you two. I felt better when you were there."_

_At __first, Glen didn't seem to know what to do with that information. Then, a warm smile that Leo hardly got to see played upon his lips. A hand stroked through his hair. "Yes, nightmares and fears...all those kinds of bad feelings are better to deal with when__ someone else is there for you," Glen murmured._

_Aah, it _was _better to deal with. The fact made Leo glow with happiness and his smile got bigger. Yes, even before Charlotte, Glen had always been so kind to him, always listening patiently as Leo described hi__s nightmares. The nightmares never stopped, but the gripping fear always waned once he was in Glen's arms. Now he had an older sister for that, too._

_With a tired yawn, he asked, "Who helps you with your bad feelings, Papa?" His eyelids were growing heavy, __and he couldn't stay awake as Glen remained silent. After that pause, the raven-haired man might've said something - Leo could feel the vibrations of that velvet, graveyard voice - but he was already asleep, secure in the embrace of the only father he'd ev__er known._

* * *

Leo's vision was blurry when he opened his eyes, staring up at the gray-black shadows shrouded over the ceiling as something quick and wet swiped down from the corner of his eye.

It was cold. Cold and silent. Not even the ghost of the warmth that Glen and Charlotte's memory forms gave him remained and there was that choking sensation that he was completely and utterly alone. Quickly, Leo brought his legs in, curling into a ball on his side as he shut his eyes tightly and let out a shuddered breath.

It used to be that Leo's realm of dreams was plagued by nightmares of flashing lights, of bloody reflections, and the resonating tick-tock of a clock. Nowdays though, they were just memories of that night, of endless Cannibal Marionettes, and of burning fire, an inferno that clouded the sky in ash, coming down in black and grey snow. To try to chase those memories away though, Leo tried to think of other things. More often than not, his mind trailed down a different set of memories – warm ones with his Crimson Faust family, the Baskervilles.

_I shouldn't think about Charlotte and Glen anymore though,_ Leo thought miserably, fingers twitching to grip the sheets. _I only miss them more when I do_...

In a desperate attempt to distract his mind, Leo hissed, flinging his blankets away and slipping out of bed. He raked his bangs, which had become even more long and tangled in the past month, over his face, taking deep and calming breaths.

It was ridiculous to dream about them now. Leo told himself this as he splashed some water on his face in the bathroom. The freezing temperature should've woken him up, but it only made him colder and he sneezed.

Charlotte was dead - Oz had sliced her open in his demon form. Glen was also dead - Leo himself had burned his body along with Jack and Lacie's. Leo could think about them all he wanted, but it wouldn't bring any of them back. He witnessed the consequences of doing such a thing. And it was always the images of Lacie laughing madly and Jack with a shard of glass stabbed into his throat that would wake Leo up to reality and his handle on things got firmer. No, he wouldn't wish their fate upon anyone else.

When Leo shuffled back into his room, he opened drawers, getting ready to dress himself for the day, even though it couldn't be more than... Leo frowned slightly and looked over at the grandfather clock that occupied a corner of his room.

Once, Leo would wake up every morning to the sharp sound of the clock's ticking, each second sounding off in his room like a gunshot depending on how friendly the night was. But for a while now, the clock had remained silent, uttering not a single sound and even the pendulum had ceased its movements.

For the uptenth time, Leo went to his nightstand and pulled out the clock's key from his drawer. The clock itself stopped telling time as well, which Leo never understood because for years this clock had been a tentative companion that soothed him in Glen's absence. It went without saying that he took rather good care of it, as well as Glen had once taken care of his piano. So why the clock suddenly paused confused Leo to no end, especially as he inserted the key into the parchment-gold face and tried to wind the grandfather clock back to life.

Not a single reaction came from within.

Leo let out a breath through his nose, slowly taking the brass key out. "So even you decided to be silent forever, huh?" he mumbled begrudgingly. He tossed the key onto his bed, huffing as he opened the door and coming face to face with a tall, blond-haired boy.

"Elliot-" "You're awake."

The two boys blinked, Leo blushing and looking down while Elliot idly loosened the collar of his shirt.

Leo paused upon noticing the action. The whole time the raven-haired boy knew him, Elliot hadn't really had a habit of wearing a shirt, even though the autumn chill must've been biting into his skin. Maybe Elliot just couldn't feel the cold – Leo wouldn't be surprised if that were the case, though it wouldn't be the most unnerving attribute to the blond's body.

Even though the clothes hid them all, crossed all over Elliot's body were thick black stitches that held him together like a ragdoll.

Noticing Leo's stare, Elliot stopped with his collar and instead adjusted the black strap of his eyepatch that covered his right eye. But quickly he realized his mistake in that as well and just put his hand down by his side, looking uncomfortable. Leo didn't flinch away. By now he had convinced himself to get used to it, that Elliot had lost his eye, and that beneath that black cloth was nothing more than an empty hole.

_Get over it_. It should've been easy to given how much Elliot would scowl at him and say that his new appearance was none of Leo's fault. Still, sometimes…

"I didn't think you'd be awake," Elliot cut in, already aware of the swirling thoughts in Leo's head. The blond leaned in and parted some of Leo's bangs to plant a soft kiss right at the center of his forehead. "Morning."

"Morning. And I never fell asleep actually," Leo mumbled in reply, moving his bangs over his face again. Lately, he had the habit of wanting to hide from everything, but he convinced himself it was just because he chose not to see the world anymore. A world now free of the source of Cannibal Marionettes, a brighter world, a world that could finally start over properly from the Tragedy of Sablier…

_So why do I feel like I'm still in a dark place_? Such thoughts were the reason Leo lay awake at night, staring at the ceiling, trying to trick himself to sleep. _Even though that just brings_…

"Nightmares?" asked Elliot softly, stepping into Leo's room. The raven didn't stop him, and closed the door behind him as Elliot sat on the bed.

Leo didn't want to admit to them. He mentioned them once, maybe twice to the blond but never went into specifics about them. Leo didn't want to trouble Elliot with that, not after all the pain he caused him already. Nightmares…he could handle them. Maybe he even deserved them. He made a passable scoff and busied himself as best as he could. "No, nothing like that."

"Insomnia?" Elliot tried again, raising his brows.

"Perhaps that's a little closer," Leo replied with a light chuckle. "But you? How did you manage to get out of your room? As I knew it, Vanessa was keeping you on a tight leash, and away from us to be more specific." Us meaning the Baskervilles, the ones with demon cells in them and wielded hellish powers.

Elliot made an unamused expression, following Leo with his eye as the raven did idle things like smooth his sheets over and open the curtains. "I snuck out while she slept. And she doesn't keep me away from you guys," he snapped lightly.

Ah. It was snowing again outside, albeit only a little. Watching the tiny bits of frost twirl down, Leo amended, "You're right, let me revise that – she wants to keep you away from me."

The blond couldn't even bring himself to refute that statement. It was obvious, the truth of it. Vanessa was more lenient with Fang and the others than with Leo, from whom she literally dragged Elliot away from once. "I'm trying to talk to her," Elliot said finally.

"Going to talk to Gilbert, too? And the rest of them?" mumbled Leo, so close to the window his breath made a patch of fog on the glass. The raven blew some more on it before drawing onto it.

It seemed Elliot had heard him, and the blond made a patient sound, a rare occurrence. "It's going to take time. We knew that. But we're staying here, right? None of us have left the mansion or anything-"

"Oh, you don't have to kid yourself to me. You're freaks, where the hell else are you going to be able to go?" snapped Leo, slamming his palm on the window pane and wiping away his breath. As soon as he did it, his cheeks heated in embarrassment. Without looking at Elliot, he mumbled, "I'm sorry," then went into the bathroom.

Elliot followed. "Are you? Freudian slip, was it?" he said, voice taut.

Leo flinched at the aggressive tone, sinking himself to the floor. "No, really, I'm sorry. I just… I'm just on edge," he finished lamely. He hugged himself loosely, wishing Elliot would go away. "And I don't…" _I don't know what to do. I don't even know what's wrong_. And Leo couldn't even tell anyone, much less Elliot, what was going on inside his head, the scattered thoughts that only piled up…

But the blond couldn't see any of that. Leo wouldn't let him. Last month, Elliot had already witnessed so many dark sides of Leo. The raven wasn't going to add more to it. But at the same time, he just needed to vent somehow.

Well. Elliot did know _this_ side of him…

"It's been awhile since a CM has showed up," he finally settled on saying, somewhat wearily.

With a rustle of clothes (Leo had gone out shopping with Lily and Doug a few weeks back to get new clothes for the ex-circus performers), Elliot settled himself right beside the raven. Folding his legs, he asked, "Isn't that a good thing? I mean, you got rid of a lot back there in Sablier."

"There has to be some out there, though…," reasoned Leo quietly. "Glen was always the one to pick up the news of the latest attacks. That's why he was the one to send us out on our missions. Now we wouldn't even know."

Elliot looked troubled at that information, but he reasoned, "Well…maybe other organizations exist out there. I mean, I'm no, um…Crimson Faust, but I handled myself pretty well out there that night. Humans could hold their own against those things."

"That's not the point though," Leo interjected, huffing slightly. His previous anger was gone, replaced with a sense of restlessness. He leaned his head on Elliot's shoulder. "I haven't done anything for a month. Do you realize that's never happened to me before? I've always been out in some mission or another, and now just sitting here surrounded by all this…" He thought of Vanessa's hate, Gilbert's sadness, the graves outside…

Leo exhaled, almost making a growl. "I need to do something. I haven't summoned Jabberwocky in forever."

"Why are you saying these things like they're bad?" Elliot asked incredulously, reaching out squeeze one of Leo's hands.

"I'm a bloodthirsty murderer, we went over this – rather graphically, as I recall," retorted the raven flatly, not reacting to Elliot's touch.

The blond noticed. "Are you really that upset to be away from that kind of life? You want to do that all again? Halloween wasn't enough for you? Your life doing this wasn't enough-"

Leo's anger returned, his frustrations coming to a head as he pushed himself away. "It's precisely because I've done this for a living that it isn't enough! Elliot, don't you understand that this is the only life I've known? All I've done is kill and hunt and just sitting here is getting on my damn nerves!" He pushed himself away, trying to get up and stomp off, but Elliot had a firm grip on his hand.

"Let go."

"That is not all you had in your life, Leo."

"Elliot, I don't want to talk about this. Now let me go."

But the blond held his ground, narrowing his single blue eye. "What's wrong, Leo? I mean what's _really_ wrong?"

No, no, he wasn't going to talk about this, nope. Just let him keep on with the image of being a heartless killer, a twisted kid with fucked up blood, let Elliot keep memories of that Leo. At least in madness being broken made sense. These feelings, these memories that took over Leo now, making him a frightened child again…

Leo bit his lip, then looked away, yanking his hand back abruptly enough that Elliot lost his grip. The raven stomped out of the bathroom, childishly slamming the door in the stitched boy's face when he got up.

"Fucking hell," he muttered under his breath, cursing himself more than Elliot. No sooner had he uttered that did he hear a sound that made him pause mid-stride to his bedroom door.

The bathroom door wrenched open, Elliot's face red in anger, and he opened his mouth, ready to rant to the raven when Leo walked up to him and slapped his palms over Elliot's mouth. A blue eye glared daggers at him but Leo shushed him, staring intently at the grandfather clock sitting at the corner of his room.

_Tick. _

_Tock_.

With a huff, Elliot wrenched Leo's hands away. "What's with you? It's like you've been closing yourself up lately and you haven't been telling me anything. I mean, don't you trust me? I thought...!" He took a deep breath, pressing a hand to his head. "Nevermind."

Leo barely registered what the blond was saying, his eyes focused slowly on the rocking of the pendulum, the ticking of the clock... And for some odd reason, it gave him the most ominous premonitions, and Leo didn't want to hear another sound from that clock. At any second he expected the sounds to echo in discord like the same clock that housed Jack Vessalius' soul for thirteen years.

But that was ridiculous. It didn't stop Leo though from leaning into Elliot and grip his sleeves in a want for comfort. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

**Ending A/N**: Fascinating fact: for years, I've used the word "uptenth," but have apparently been meaning to use the word "umpteenth". I don't know how to take this – I mean, no one corrected me, and I've used it in several essays… Maybe it's just one of those accepted words? Ah well, I'll continue to use uptenth because umpteenth just looks weird. Square the rules, I am the writer of this fic –shot-

I actually didn't have a lot to say this time, so, um... Review? I wish everyone happy holidays~ Also, any feels from the latest retrace? -sobs-


	3. 2nd Hour: Welcome to the Dollhouse

**A/N: **Nowadays my days consist of sleep time and non-sleep time. It's how I tell time now, based on when I'm awake and asleep, except my schedule is seven types of backwards and inconsistent. What day is it. Gah. Who knows, haha. Anyway, my wonky college life aside, my friend Gugeta made more really great artwork for this series~ But since ffnet is being a turd and won't let me post the link in any sort of format, the link is on my profile page! Go forth and please take a look at it, it's psycho Leo and Jabberwocky surrounded in blood~

By the way, I posted up all the Clockwork Circus fanart on my profile. Most of them are made by really good friends of mine, so please do take a look, they're so talented~

Please enjoy and thank you for being patient -bows-

_**2**__**nd**__** Hour: Welcome to the Dollhouse**_

Back on Halloween night when the freaks of the fallen Clockwork Circus traveled back with the Baskervilles to their mansion, they had been greeted with an equally destroyed home. Oz had set wreckage to the place in his demon form, casting high flames that burned away most of the entrance hall and first floor. In the past month, there had been plenty of time to get to picking everything back up.

The fallen chandelier was cleaned away and the ashes were swept up. The entrance door, the windows, and the staircase had to be taken care of by more capable and professional workers, and on those days the freaks kept quietly in their rooms, not even daring to open their doors.

And that's actually how it had been for days. Even after the mansion was put more-or-less in the right state again, Leo only rarely passed any of the ex-circus performers. Several times he got Lily to try to coax them down to the dining hall to eat with the other Baskervilles, but with no success. He and the others had to bring up food and clothes for them up until the last week. It was only recently that he began to see a few of them venture out. (Elliot, of course, was always held back by Vanessa whenever he tried to get out of the room.)

Walking down the quiet hallway with Elliot, Leo remembered a time when he thought it would be a wonderful idea to have the Clockwork Circus members live in the mansion with the Baskervilles. He thought it'd work out well since he and his family weren't the most normal human beings either. Maybe it had just been a childish notion at the time. _Because now I'm not so sure about this_, he thought dubiously.

It was like nothing had changed, but this time, the only thing keeping the freaks locked away was themselves.

"I promise it's not because they're scared of you," Elliot explained yet again to Leo, albeit it was more on the impatient side. He sighed in exasperation, running a hand through his short hair. "Leo, you've gotta realize that they're not used to this. I mean," he stopped, feeling over the carpet on the floor with his bare foot, "none of us have even been inside anywhere but tents and boxcars for years. This is really…new. And I don't think they've come to the conclusion if it's good or bad yet."

Leo chewed the inside of his cheek, biting off the slick skin until he tasted blood on his tongue. He knew that what Elliot was saying was true. But… "I just feel like somehow I'm failing at something. Was this how Glen felt with us when we were kids?" he mused out loud.

Elliot raised a brow at him. "Who is being compared to kids?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" Leo said. "Although now that we're on the subject, I am beginning to wonder what you must've been like as a child." He reached out to pinch the blond's cheek. "Elliot must've been quite adorable, I'd bet."

"Well a mother doesn't particularly coo with adoration when she finds out her youngest child is a human ragdoll," Elliot pointed out blandly like it was the most mundane sentence. His single blue eye flickered over to Leo, gleaming mischievously as he batted the raven's hand away. "What about you? I'm sure it was like riding your first bike when you got to flying on your scythe for the first time."

Leo actually laughed at that, because it sort of was the truth. "I'll give you some lessons then sometime," he offered.

Elliot made a discomforted face. "I don't think I trust that thing…"

"How rude. Jabberwocky is not a thing, and if I'm remembering right, it helped save you the first time we met," Leo pointed out.

At that, Elliot's jaw dropped. "I told you if I had fallen, I'd be perfectly _fine_!" he argued, punching Leo's shoulder. "As you witnessed more than once!"

As much as Leo would've liked to retort, he barely even registered what the blond said or even the punch socked to him. His ears perked, having picked up something in the middle of Elliot's rant - some voices echoing further down the semi-dark hall.

_Hmm_? He was sure he recognized those voices, too… He stopped, trying to figure them out when he noticed Elliot continued to walk on ahead of him.

"Ah, Elliot, I wouldn't-," he tried to warn as the blond kept walking ahead. Only a split second later was there outcries of surprise and the thump of someone falling. Leo sighed patiently, shaking his head as he poked around the corner.

Elliot was still standing and looked startled, rubbing his chest where a silver-haired girl had bumped into him. She, on the other hand, was on the floor, more or less on her hands and knees like she was about to crawl away. Or given the mumble of hasted apologies coming out of her, beg for forgiveness.

"Ah, Echo?" Leo said, stepping out from the corner to help her up. "This brutish man did not harm you, did he?"

"Who are you calling a brute!?" demanded Elliot in shock.

Helping Echo dust off, Leo reprimanded him, "Come now, that's not the way to go about acting around a lady after you've bumped into her. Echo's got more manners than you; she's already apologized for _your_ mess-up."

Before a red-faced Elliot could get another word in, Echo quickly said, "No, it wasn't Mister Elliot's doing, it was mine. Echo was running down the hallway, trying to get away-"

"Dear Alice! I have found our Echo!" came a cheerful outcry. This one came from another silver-haired girl, although her pearly locks fell much longer, flying behind her as she ran happily to the trio ahead.

"G-geez, Alyss, you don't have to tell me! I can see her myself!" shouted the silver-haired girl's twin sister, glaring as she was dragged along – and that was literally being dragged along, considering Alice had little choice in the matter when the two girl's bodies were conjoined together into one.

At the sight of the twins, Echo jumped, stumbling over to hide behind Leo. She pointed a finger at them like a weapon, gripping the back of Leo's shirt. "St-stay away from Echo, please!"

"Haah? Oh, what are you saying, Echo? Come on now, I haven't hurt you," said Alyss with a small pout, not even seeming to have noticed Elliot or Leo were there yet.

Well if he was being ignored, Elliot was fixing that now. He looked down at the two girls sternly as he crossed his arms. "What're you doing running around like you lost your minds?" he asked tightly. "I'm surprised you haven't tripped over your four legs like that."

"Trust me, Sir Splats-a-lot, there were many close calls," said Alice flatly, regaining her breath as she flipped her brown bangs back. "And Alyss is going to kidnap that girl."

"Such a crass word!" chastised Alyss with a small huff. "Alice is exaggerating. I was merely thinking how well the costume we made her last month worked out so well, and I would like to make something for her again! After all, it's been awhile since I've sewn anything together-"

"So she's been on a damn spree for days now," Alice interjected with a deep groan.

"Even the dress we have on now is a modification of what you gave us," lilted Alyss with a pleased smile, smoothing over the dark-purple gown Leo had given them weeks back. The dress they had on before had been something more of interesting patchwork than actual clothing, and even though the two girls were conjoined, they were still rather slender so the dress Leo gave them was only one of a large size.

The raven nodded with a smile, squatting down to examine it better. "Yes, it came out very ni-"

"D-don't just cut up clothes people give you!" Elliot exclaimed incredulously, obviously having a different opinion on the matter. He made an impatient sound. "You better not have done it with everything else!"

"…He's probably not gonna appreciate what you did to the curtains then," Alice said with a sideways glance at her twin, raising a brow.

Alyss, who also didn't appear the least-bit distressed, agreed, "No, he probably isn't."

"_And what did you do to the damn curtains_!?" shouted Elliot in disbelief, looking an inch away from strangling the girls.

Leo exhaled through his nose, still squatted on the ground as he looked back at Echo. "Sometimes I find such comfort in Elliot's shouting. Never really quiet in this big mansion," he said to her under his breath, chuckling softly. Even Echo smiled tentatively at that, picking at the lace of her sleeves.

It actually took little prompting for the conjoined twins to lead the trio – mostly Alyss, who insistently took Echo by the hand, chattering to her nearly nonstop as Echo frantically glanced behind at Leo who only laughed a little.

Each of the rooms they passed had their doors firmly closed, even though most of them were now being occupied by the Clockwork Circus freaks now. Leo had no idea what they did to pass the time, his own hobby being to read, but he supposed things like that didn't matter much to them. Still, he wondered if this was a bit of a step down from them after being able to pass the days preparing for their circus acts.

_But those were degrading just to _watch, Leo reminded himself.

Well. Whatever the others did in their free time, he wondered if it was anything like what Alyss had been doing. And looking inside the twins' room, it was quickly apparent she had been…busy.

How she got ahold of scissors in the first place stumped him, and thread and needles for that matter. The clothes that they had been given were draped over the bed, each with rather unique modifications to them. One of the blankets was off to the side, cut into patterned shreds. Scraps of fabric were littered everywhere, and the most recent-looking project seemed to be evidenced by the cut-up curtains.

Leo thought all the shredding was rather amusing, as he didn't really care about these things anyway.

"_JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE DOING_!?"

Obviously Elliot still didn't feel the same.

Alyss twirled around, forcing her twin and Echo into vertigo as well. "I toooold you, just trying to keep myself busy. And it was so hard to make something back at the circus, so I took advantage of things here~," she lilted in pleasure.

"Alyss, stop spinning! I'm gonna barf!" demanded Alice, flailing her arm.

"Echo would like to stop as well!" agreed the silver-haired girl, nearly stumbling.

"BUT WHY THE CURTAINS!?" bellowed Elliot, hands twitching in and out of fists. "And how did you even cut all this up!?"

Alyss stopped her twirling, finally releasing Echo. "Vincent always has scissors, so Alice stole one of them for me," she praised, smiling at her sister who only rolled her eyes and huffed. "And then Sharon so kindly lent me the little things like thread. So I'm making Echo a new dress! And I thought the red from the curtains would look so pretty on her~"

Elliot gaped. "Y-you… YOU THINK IT'S FLATTERING TO BE DRESSED UP IN CURTAINS!?"

Leo covered his ears, mimicking the twins' action of not listening. "Oi, Elliot, how about toning it down before you tear down the mansion?" he said, kicking the blond. "And I don't really care about the curtains or anything. Not like we don't have a lot anyway."

Happily, Alyss pressed her hand against her cheek, looking back at Echo. "Don't you worry about a thing! When I'm done with it, it'll look nothing like this drapery here. Alice and I can be quite good with this, as you know."

The pink that had risen in Echo's cheeks was quickly turning to deep red. "E-Echo doesn't need…"

"It'll be great, just you wait! Your other costume came out fine, didn't it? And now it's ruined now, so we'll make up for it!" Alyss proclaimed cheerfully.

Echo seemed to be considering, and she seemed to piece together the faster she just accepted it, the faster Alyss would be so eager with her. Finally she managed a small nod that sent the other silver-haired girl dancing around again in glee, taking Echo along with her.

Leo smiled a little as he watched the twins and Echo, of how in place she looked, if that made any sense. The sight of the shy, silver-haired girl being around others her age, freak or not, was much better than seeing her shackled down and drugged in an asylum, where Leo had first met her. She was different now. The stab wound that Oz had given her was healed up by now, although yet another scar had been added to her already abused body.

And yet, she didn't seem to resent Oz for it. Actually, more than once Leo had caught her staring out a window toward the blond's grave, touching over her clothed scar. He remembered how she used to act around Oz, how she looked at him – of course he knew. But that was going around in circles with sad thoughts again, and right now, Leo just wanted to be happy that the twins were smiling and Echo was with friends.

"Hey Alyss, why don't you ask Shaggy Eyes now since he's here?" asked Alice, trying to snap her other head's attention from the flustered Echo.

Leo blinked, snapped out of his thoughts. "Eh?"

"Alyss wanted to make you something, too," Alice said simply, her twin nodding enthusiastically.

Elliot's face reddened. "W-wait, you're making him a…a…a dr-dress?" he choked out. When Leo looked back at him, the blond jumped, quickly looking away in embarrassment.

"Elliot, don't be a pervert, of course Alice meant boy clothes," said Alyss with a small giggle. "Although it is true that I'm not experienced with male clothing, so maybe Elliot would prefer Leo to be given a dress?"

"You used to say I was pretty too," Leo added with false dreaminess, casting Elliot a look.

The blond sputtered, looking very much like he didn't know what to do, and was close to wanting to break the closest thing to him. He made a frustrated sound, face still red as he turned around. "Fine, make clothes, I don't care! It doesn't concern me!" He stomped out, crossing his arms as he waited out in the hallway.

_Too easy to tease_, thought Leo fondly, chuckling behind his hand. He glanced back at Alyss and Alice somewhat shyly. "Did you really, ah…mean that though? About the clothing?"

Both girls blinked in unison and looked at each other before going back to Leo. "Of course, why would we not mean it?" asked Alyss, looking surprised. "Alice wanted to thank you anyway and this is what we came up with."

"Thank…me?" repeated Leo uncertainly.

Alice looked embarrassment and she huffed, looking away. "It's nothing big, don't get all like that! I never had…that meat stuff before and it was good okay? So…give me some more," she said, trying to move away, but held back by Alyss standing with her feet planted firmly down. After a moment's patience, she sniffed, shaking her head.

"Well that's not the end of it. We may not show it, but we are happy to be here," said the silver-haired girl with a charming smile. She nudged her twin, who flushed some more and grumbled in agreement.

A deep sort of relief flooded inside Leo, stunning him for a moment that he didn't move. The next second though, he was smiling, close to laughing in just sheer relief. "Alright," he said, thankful that his bangs would cover most of his expression. It wasn't that he never showed emotion, but he didn't know just how unbridled his happiness was at that moment, but he was sure he never smiled so much in a long time. "Thank you then."

Alyss beamed, Alice looked bashfully pleased. The silver-haired twin then gently ushered Leo outside, claiming Echo to the side in order to gather correct measurements for the dress. The raven half-expected her to try to start running again, but she stood patiently behind the conjoined girls, looking down but looking somewhat happy with herself. Leo certainly hoped that was the case anyway. He may not be having the highest days, but he did wish for the others to be happy.

And he could only hope what was happening with Alice and Alyss meant that the other circus freaks had similar feelings. Even if they never came out of their rooms, maybe they would in the near future. Leo still smiled to himself as he walked up to Elliot, who was pacing to blow off his steam.

The blond scowled lightly at him. "What're you so happy for?" he snapped, though his voice held no bite to it.

Leo shook his head, hands behind his back as he made a pleased humming sound.

Elliot's expression softened a bit and he relaxed some. For a second he looked worried, but then he smiled a bit and patted Leo's shoulder. "Good. You cheered up then. That's good," he said with a nod.

The raven's first instinct was to tease Elliot some more, but instead, he flushed a little. "They, um…thanked me for some odd reason," he said, reaching up to scratch his cheek. He tucked back some hair back behind his ear. He wondered if he was happier than he should be by it – it was such a small thing after all…

But a laugh left Elliot, reassuring the raven. "I told you they'd come around. Hope this shows you should listen to me more often!" sniffed Elliot in pride, standing up straighter. "Told you no one is scared of you or hates you."

"Okay, now you're pushing it," Leo said after making a 'pfft' sound. He lightly pushed Elliot. "I still think I'm being horrible at all this."

"Well it's not your job to take care of everyone," pointed out Elliot, rubbing his chest where he was pushed.

_Is it so bad though that I feel like I should try_? Leo wondered vaguely in the back of his mind. Glen's face came to mind, blurry memories of him always taking such good care of the other Baskervilles. Was it so bad that Leo wanted that for the circus performers? The thoughts were far away enough from the top of his mind that he didn't dwell on it. He chuckled again. "I know that, mostly because people like say, you, don't like being taken care of. What is it? Don't like being coddled?"

"I'm not exactly a _child_," Elliot said with a small huff.

"Although a lot of us here were forced to grow up early, huh?" Leo asked, hands still behind his back as he walked lightly down the hallway. "Wonder what a normal childhood is like." _I sure am talking about childhood a lot today_. He frowned slightly in confusion but shook his head. It couldn't be anything big.

Elliot hadn't said anything yet, and Leo paused, wondering what was wrong when a sound caught his attention. Further down the hallway, a door clicked open and Xerxes stepped out of his room. As usual, Emily was sitting on his shoulder, and Leo saw her little doll head turn to the two boys. Xerxes seemed to take note of them and offered an overfriendly wave before cordially walking away.

Ah, Xerxes Break – also formally known as Drosselmeyer. He along with Sharon had been unexpected additions to the Baskerville mansion. Leo had been sure after Sablier was burned up into ashes that Xerxes would take Sharon and his talking doll Emily away to wherever they had come from. The two of them had always been strange somehow. They never quite seemed to belong to the circus, even when they performed. Like they were there for another reason than to be subjected to the ways of the circus Isla Yura used to run.

And that thought hadn't strayed far from Leo's mind in recent weeks.

Leo returned the wave, albeit less energetically as Elliot stepped up next to him, who hummed lowly in wonder. The raven looked back at him. "Eh? What's with that thinking sound coming from an idiot?"

With great patience, Elliot bit his lip, looking like he wanted nothing more than to punch Leo. "Can we be serious for like five seconds?" he said, putting his hand on top of Leo's head, patting it hard like he wanted to squish the raven down.

"We could certainly try," agreed Leo easily, not distressed in the slightest, actually smiling wider. "What is it?"

A thoughtful, faraway expression crossed Elliot's face as he looked after Xerxes' retreating back. "It's just… I never really did feel like he was like us sometimes. Not really in a bad way, but… With him and Sharon, it was always different," he began to explain slowly, a frown creasing his brow. "I don't know why. It's like how it had been with you guys, actually."

That made Leo blink. "What?"

Elliot made a soft scoffing sound, smiling slightly. "What, like I didn't make it obvious enough that I didn't trust you at first?" he pointed out with a roll of his eye. He let go of Leo then, leaning back on the wall. "It was like that. Except with Xerxes and Sharon…it still hasn't really gone away."

_So Elliot had the same feeling as me. And if I remember right, Echo had her suspicions about Xerxes at first too_. Leo looked back at the silver-haired man, and couldn't help but have the unnerving sensation that he knew every word that was being said between him and Elliot. Why were they so unsettling somehow? Xerxes in particular had made Leo stand on edge for a bit after he saw his powers of invisible string manipulation that turned people into his puppets. On top of that, he seemed to know quite a bit about magick and demons and Hell.

A bit _too_ knowledgeable.

"Freaky even for a freak," Leo said in amusement, raising a brow up at Elliot. "Now that's saying something."

* * *

She was curled up on the chair of her vanity, stockings stripped off, exposing her legs for only a second before she quickly hid them under the skirts of her night-dress. It was such a hasty gesture, a trained reaction whenever any part of her body was bare before any wandering eyes –wherever they may have been hiding.

One shouldn't be ashamed of what they look like, or so was the sentiment she tried to tell herself. But she was a noble lady, a young girl brought up in a world of airs and masks – a world in which a girl like herself was expected to be dainty and pretty like a doll.

Her pink lips stretched with a saddened smile. Well, it wasn't meant to be taken this way, of course. Her eyes, large, innocent, and a spring green glanced down at her gloves. They made her hands appear comical somehow – larger and not her own even though those hands led to wrists and arms that were quite certainly attached to her body. But the limbs themselves felt artificial as well and at that moment she wished nothing more than to tear off her own arms.

She could do it.

Ignoring the tears stinging her cheeks, she pulled off one glove and flexed her fingers on their joints. Just as she was about to take off her other glove, there came a gentle knock at her door. Her heart gave a start. Clearing her throat – and mind – she gave the visitor permission to enter, quickly hiding her naked hand away.

A tall man with short brown hair entered the room, the grey light spilling from her window gleaming on his glasses. Even though it was early in the morning, he still wore formal work attire that the other servants were expected to wear – although this came as little surprise to her. Day or night, it seemed as though this man was always working, and it made her comforted in a queer way – he was, after all, her caretaker, and had been for as long as she could remember.

She smiled pleasantly at the man, relaxing. She could be herself around him, because he was the only one who knew – now, if the maids did, or even her _father_… Oh. The consequences would be severe.

She'd rather not think of it.

"Mister Reim," she greeted, taking off her other glove with ease now.

His eyes glanced to where she placed her gloves down and also down to the tangled heap she put her stockings in. The look he gave her was both sympathetic and patient. "My lady, you know better than to take those off," he reminded her meaningfully – a reminder that had been drilled into her head for the past few years now.

"I was feeling hot," she said quickly, looking down.

Reim raised a brow, going over to the window, where outside there was a light snow. His own gloved hand touched the glass before casting her a look. "It's cold," he pointed out in contradiction.

The gentle smile she had twitched and faded a little at that. "I know," she admitted. "It's very cold…" But she was so used to the hot, of infernal heat. She tried to perk herself up, looking pleadingly up at Reim. "Have you-?"

Knowing what she was going to ask, as if she hadn't asked it for months now, Reim closed his eyes in grim thought. The look was so forlorn that she stopped her question short immediately, sinking back into her chair, dejected. The endless questions and musings were of the usual sort after being denied her desire yet again, and really, she wasn't sure how long she could keep herself in this mansion anymore and just _wait_.

"I do have news about that," Reim finally said, and she snapped her head up, lips slightly parted. His words sank into her and she smiled in pure delight, rising up along with the feelings in her chest, ready to ask where, but then stopped again when her caretaker appeared uneager to share the rest of the news.

"What…"

Slowly, he shook his head. "It's too late. My lady, he's…" He opened his eyes, only to glance away from her. "It's been a month."

She let the weight of it hit her slowly, even when her heart was already sinking as her legs gave out from her and she collapsed onto the floor, staring at the ground blankly. Her lips were parted and her chest was moving, yet she didn't feel any breaths enter or escape from her. "Oh…," was all she could get out. "Oh…"

Reim came over, bending down to gently brush her hair back from her face. "I'm sorry."

"…Where is he? Who…did it?"

"My lady?" asked Reim in surprise.

Her hand slowly snaked up his arm, gripping him more and more tightly. "Oz was a half-demon, wasn't he? Nothing human could have the strength to… I know…he must have been ki…" Her voice caught and she swallowed thickly. The thought was something she'd rather not voice out loud. "Tell me who."

"My lady…," said Reim again, this time unsurely. There was twinge of pain as well.

He knew. And she had to as well. She had to. Her dear family... "Mister Reim…" Still looking at the ground, she heard her caretaker let out a breath, then murmur those names into her ears. The names of those who had killed Oz Vessalius.

What was left of her heart seemed to stop beating.

_Oz_...

* * *

**Ending A/N**: Headcanon I'm making about my own story. As it's probably difficult as fahk to sew and design with one hand, Alice helps out her sister when making the dresses. For all their bickering, they make a great team at putting it all together. In exchange, Alyss does whatever Alice wants to afterward.

Anyway, the pacing is still a bit slow right now, but next chapter the plot will get to rolling. But look! Two new characters have appeared in our midst! Well I thought it was about time Reim came around, and I'm thinking it's obvious who the second person is. Shhshh I just like keep up the façade of a mystery anyway -shot- So I do hope this was a good update, there was a lot of rearranging and deleting of scenes -le sigh-

Review, perhaps?


	4. 3rd Hour: Mad Dissonance

**A/N: **I got oddly inspired out of nowhere. Isn't that always the way?

This series has been wonderfully graced with more fanart (guysstopjrgjk)! -smiles happily- ffnet/tumblr lass, **hudgens77**, drew Elliot in all his stitched glory~ Link for it is on my profile, so please do take a look at it! Also, Clockwork Circus is being currently translated into Spanish by ffnet user **xx-WhiteQueen-xx**! I'm very excited for this, so please do give her support in this very hard work! Because of this, I went on and edited Clockwork Circus - good grief, there were so many mistakes, why did none of you tell me? D: (I hope I caught of of them, but I highly doubt it, -sigh-)

Without further ado, let us proceed. Please enjoy -bows-

_**3rd Hour: Mad Dissonance **_

She was buzzing around the room in a tizzy, frantically searching through her closet for a gown, and messily setting down her make up over the vanity's table. Her long blond hair was done up on a messy bun and fussily, she sat on her bed to put on her stockings.

Back and forth he watched her go, standing still at the frame of the door, wondering what on earth was happening. As natural as it was for his mistress to be in such an excited state, he did think something was rather different about it this time. It had only been two days since he first revealed the death of Oz, and just as he thought, she had spent that first day alone. Today, though, she was animated - a bit too much.

Reim took another step inside, his stare trying to keep up with her as she jumped up, stockings done, before picking out a corset. Politely averting his eyes, he coughed a bit. "My lady, what are you doing?"

"Ah, Mister Reim, you're here! Good, please do help me with my corset strings," she asked in a rush, coming up to him. "I know this is highly improper, but right now there's no time!"

Still not sure what was going on, but very certain it'd be best to help her in her whirlwind, Reim cleared his throat and reached up for the strings as she turned around. As he began to lace and tighten her up, he tried again to ask patiently, "Why are you running about like this? Has something excited you?"

As soon as he patted her back to show he was done, she let out a breath and grabbed his wrist, leading them to her vanity. From there, she pulled down her bun and handed Reim her brush insistently. Startled, Reim nearly dropped the thing, but held fast as his mistress sat straight, beginning to put simple make-up on herself.

When she was done applying some blush to her already flushed cheeks, she urged, "Come on now, please, Mister Reim. We have no time to waste!"

More confused than ever, he nevertheless did as she instructed and began to tentatively comb her hair, not wanting to yank to hard if she had any tough tangles. Smiling approvingly, she got to work covering her lips in a light-pink gloss.

"Before this, Jack Vessalius was dead, was he not?" she asked. Her movements slowed just the slightest at the mention of that man before letting out a breath. "And Miss Lacie, she was in a circus for years, a circus whose other performers seemed to have disappeared, or...or died as well." She straightened up then, smiling at the pair of them reflected in the mirror. "That leaves just one other place, doesn't it?"

Reim blinked, momentarily halting the brush's movements. "You want to leave immediately?" he asked a bit belatedly.

She nodded, verdant eyes wide with hope. "We have to go to the mansion Glen Baskerville once lived!"

* * *

_As soon as Leo recognized where he was, he willed himself to wake up. It had happened before after all, being literally frightened out of his nightmare, and he wanted to wake up before _those_ terrifying things happened. The fact that he was so disturbed by the dreams that he could have his own thoughts now gave Leo the option to go where he wanted - and he knew he did not want to go any further into the island of Sablier. _

_It was brighter in his dreams, giant tongues of flame lapping up maliciously at the heavens like a pit in Hell. It cackled loudly in this ear, to a point where he could not discern whether the sounds were natural, or human. Leo's heart sped up, and he folded within himself, trying to wake up. "Please, please, I don't want this, don't want, don't want," he whispered under his breath, closing his eyes tightly._

_"HeeheeHAHAHA!" laughed the fire, and Leo couldn't compare it to something human now. No, every other crackle was a gnashing of teeth and greedy growls of Cannibal Marionettes. Leo whimpered, trying to find a path to get him far, far away._

_In his dream, Jabberwocky betrayed him. He could not call out to his scythe as he once had, and with each second that the flames closed in on him, singing parts of his clothing, Leo was thrust into the harsh truth of being utterly defenseless._

_"Leave me alone!" he cried out in frustration to the laughing hellfire and monsters. "Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alooooooone!"_

_"Alone?" repeated a voice, words nearly unintelligible from how raspy they sounded. _

_Leo froze at the voice, hands trembling like he was cold in this inferno. Slowly, fearfully, Leo turned to the source of the voice. Again, it asked, "Alone? You wish so bad to be alone then? When you once held on so dearly to me?" Shapes blurred within the flames then, smears of shadow before becoming more distinct the closer they approached. _

_Burning bodies. The burning bodies of Lacie, Jack, and Glen. _

_"Why did you kill me?" Glen asked, spreading his charred arms. "Why did you burn me? Did you really see nothing else to do but to leave us here to blaze into ash?"_

_("Are they dead?")_

_("Does it matter?")_

_"That's not what I meant," Leo tried to reason carefully, eyes wide. He might've felt the urge to cry, but that could've been from the plumes of smoke. _

_Glen put down one arm before pointing accusingly at Leo, his hand nothing more than a gory stain of pink and red and black. "You wanted us dead. All you know how to do is kill, even the ones you love," he declared._

_"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Leo screamed desperately, hot tears running down his face, but they burned, burned so much, searing the flesh of his cheeks. Leo winced, making a feeble sound of surprise before ignoring the burning saltwater. "Papa," he tried again, softer and more desperate, "I'd..." _I'd never kill you_. "You were dead already. Even if we killed you a thousand times, there'd always be the need that your warped bodies would want life again. That's what Xerxes told me! Your bodies...they'd...never be the same! You'd never want live a life like that!"_

_"Even when your own body is so cursed as well!" shouted Glen impatiently. _

_Leo lost his sense of thought, shocked. "But...but that was... _You_ gave me Lacie's heart, though..."_

_"All you know how to do is kill after all," Glen growled, as Lacie and Jack advanced to him. "You've learned absolutely nothing. Your madness hasn't gone in the slightest. I'm disappointed."_

_Then he was shoved backward by Jack and Lacie's burned hands, landing on something bumpy and...and moving. Leo shrieked when the scenery behind him rippled and stretched forward to him in the form of jaws and claws and talons, every image of the demons he still remembered getting a glimpse of before. And just like then, as they screamed right in his year, promising death, Leo found himself just as petrified and frightened. A jaw clamped down on the flesh of his arm and Leo let out a yell._

_"NO, PLEASE, LEAVE ME ALONE!" he cried, but more of him was being snatched fast, by teeth and talons and tongues, anything that could hold him in place and send him squirming desperately. "PAPA, PLEASE SAVE ME! SAVE ME, I'M SCARED! PAPAAAA!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, losing all his breath as Glen looked at him blankly-_

* * *

Before he finally woke up.

Leo inhaled the breath he lost from his scream, his heart a single heavy thud in his chest like he was suddenly brought back to life. For a few dark seconds, he didn't know where he was and jumped, crawling away from the wall he was leaning against, expecting grotesque shapes to take form right there. _Please don't find me_-!

"Leo?"

He screamed, falling over his own limbs as he tried to get away. All at once, he turned around, meeting a single wide blue eye.

"..." A million thoughts must've been going through Elliot's mind. Leo could practically see them all in his eye. Leo's heart was pounding in his ears in the too-quiet room, and it took him a moment to realize what it meant for _Elliot_ to be there, and he swallowed, closing his eyes. He wanted assurance. He wanted arms to hold him and a graveyard voice to be against his ear. He wanted _Glen_, but he was dead. Because...

"I killed them. I'm so sorry I killed them, I wish I hadn't killed them, I wish I hadn't!" he almost sobbed.

A warm hand tentatively brushed his hair back out of his face and Leo sniffed. Elliot gave him an attentive look, even when his brow was creased in deep worry. "It was only a nightmare, Leo," he said, going down to caress his cheek. "It wasn't real. You didn't kill anyone. They were...already dead. Xerxes told you, remember?"

"I...burned them though... Everything...we could've had...," pointed out the raven shakily, reaching up, touching the warmth of Elliot's forearm. So warm, and his own hand was so cold. He felt too cold, even when everything around him had been fire.

Elliot moved to the floor next to Leo then, sitting down and spreading his legs a bit to pull Leo into an embrace. Even though he wasn't looking at the blond's face anymore, Leo could still feel his breath against his ear, his neck... Leo laid against his chest, steadying himself, and Elliot patiently rubbed up and down his arm, through his tangle of hair, murmuring all the while, "It's okay. Come back to me, Leo. It's okay now."

Eventually Leo began to breathe evenly, and his heart calmed down. In the quietness of the room, Leo looked out into the space to make sure he really wasn't back in Sablier. He wasn't. The curtains were closed, but through the crack of afternoon light, he made out the music room's form, a few feet he was from the piano.

It was okay now. Elliot was right. Just...a nightmare. Glen wouldn't kill him, ever. Even though the scene had terrified him to no end, he did know that much about his father - he would never willingly strike Leo down like that. Before, there had been times when he was chained down, when Glen would reprimand him, but he'd never strike out to Leo in cold blood.

_Papa...was more gentle than that_, he thought, remembering being held and carried around by the raven-haired man; being protected, and cared for...

The fire, the burning of Sablier, and even the faces of Glen, Jack, and Lacie - yes, it had all happened before.

But the demons.

The demons were fairly new.

As much as he was terrified of them, Leo had never had nightmares about the demons, too preoccupied was his mind with other horrible events. Why now did they appear? Why now?

"...Why are you here?" the raven finally got around to ask in a creaky voice, turning to look at Elliot.

"I was just walking around, really. I was thinking about things and I thought just a bit of walking might help. It's nice to stretch your legs out someplace that isn't a tiny jail." Elliot's expression got softer then as he explained, "And I noticed a few times you come into this room, but I never really followed you in it - because those were days that you were...upset. I didn't think you'd be in here when I came in."

Oh. Yes. Leo did remember now that he had come into the music room. It wasn't anything so much as playing some of Glen's music than trying to make up his own for once. Up until this point, he had no particular inspiration or another for composing music, and neither did he think he'd have a knack for it. Recently though, he had the urge to play something else, something not written down anywhere else - except his own mind.

The melody he came up with was rather simple, and Leo left it at that.

"So you came to poke around?" he asked only half in anger. No one else came into this room but him, it belonged to Glen, and having anyone else in it felt like his father would becoming erased from the walls and piano.

At first, Elliot looked like he wanted to retort harshly, but then he let out a small breath. "Yeah, I did." He glanced over at the piano a few feet from them. "Can you really play that?"

"I can," Leo replied tersely. "I was in the middle of writing something before I fell asleep."

The blond got up and went to the large instrument. "Did you finish it?"

Twisting his lips slightly, Leo admitted, "I'm not sure. But I don't think I'd want to try to finish it. It sounds stupid, since it's the first song I composed."

Elliot blinked, looking from the piano to Leo before getting up to examine the sheet of music himself. Fearing Elliot might actually ask him to play it, he quickly asked, "Can you even read that?"

He noticed the downward twitch of Elliot's lips. "I used to," he murmured, gently setting the paper down before sitting down on the piano bench. His hands were on his lap, his stare blank and almost lost at the sight of the keys. One hand came up, hovering inches above the keys before his fingers curled and settled decisively back on his lap with something a little less than a punch. "We had one back at the place me and Vanessa came from. My mother was trying to teach me, and I was doing pretty well at it, I guess, but..."

When the silence stretched a bit too long, Leo frowned slightly, leaning his head toward Elliot. "What is it?"

Elliot looked pained. His touched his arm, a few inches below his wrist. "When I was little, I overheard my parents talking about Vanessa, that our tailor was beginning to complain about the constant redoing of my sister's clothes because she kept getting taller. Around this point, she was taller than our father," he began, head bowed slightly. "I heard my father toss out cruel words like 'unnatural'. Like 'freak'. I got...really scared about what might happen to Vanessa then so I ran off because I didn't want to hear anymore."

Leo listened intently, quietly getting up from the floor to move towards Elliot. He sat down next to him on the bench, keeping his eyes trained on Elliot's expressions. It was the first time the blond had spoken about his past in specifics, and Leo wanted to make sure he didn't miss a word.

"I ran into the music room," he went on explaining quietly. "And I hid there for a few minutes before I looked at the piano, and I had the strongest urge to play it. It didn't even matter what song, I needed something else to take up my mind. And so I went to it, tried to act professional by making sure everything was tuned first. I was short though, and knocked my elbow against the stand but didn't think anything of it until I heard it slip, and then... And then the lid fell on my arm."

Right next to him, Leo had to hold himself from jumping as if the piano's lid in front of them had also crashed down. His eyes widened but Elliot gave him not time to say anything, "It was then... That my family found out."

"You mean, with your body?" Leo asked quietly.

Elliot nodded, pushing up his sleeve and holding out his arm to have Leo examine the stitches he had been holding. "This was my first time, after I got surgery because the trauma was too much for my arm. But even though days passed, the part of me cut off never rotted. And where I had been cut apart seemed to heal in no time. No one understood it. Especially since afterward, our doctor decided to...test something and sewed my arm back on, and everyone saw how I could control my movement there again automatically. It was then I finally knew why. Why I felt so...freaky."

A few beats of silence followed, in which Elliot put his arm down and then began feeling over the stitches again. Leo noticed the bob of the blond's Adam's apple, the tenseness in his shoulders and jaw. And even beneath the shirt Elliot wore, it was obvious how shallowly he was suddenly breathing.

"Elliot?" Leo said softly, reaching out to touch him.

Elliot inhaled, straightening up, making Leo's hand barely miss in touching his shoulder. "Play it," he said in a determined voice. "The song. Play it, Leo."

Leo frowned. "But you-"

"Please. For me?" Elliot asked, smoothing the piece over the stand. "I want to hear your music."

Really, Leo wanted to refuse again. But he also heard Elliot just say the word 'please' in a voice like that, after revealing a painful part of his past... With the lingering notion that there was something else Elliot had been remembering. He wanted to ask. He wanted to know what could get a reaction like that from the tightrope walker. But he also knew after giving the vaguest response to Elliot about his nightmares, and the blond already having said so much, this was a conversation for another day.

He nodded then silently, positioning his fingers over the keys before counting off in his head. Then he began to play.

The melody was a simple pattern, light and graceful, a delightful waltz before - _clang_! - Leo's fingers pressed down a bit harder for the discordant chord, and he saw Elliot's surprised flinch. It at first seemed an accident, a slip into another key._ Or like a mad player tried to interrupt_.

But the pattern repeated until Leo was going back and forth between almost joyous bouncing of higher notes and slamming his fingers down onto the lower chords. Leo allowed himself to repeat the song twice to make up for how short it was, and at the very end, he looked down before pressing down on the keys in one last ring of mad dissonance. It came out louder than he had intended, but somehow sounded better for it, and Leo took in that mismatched echo with a dark sort of relish before putting his hands down on his lap.

"I'm not good at this," he said evenly in an attempt to wave off the slightly mad music.

Elliot let out a contemplative sound. "It's sure nothing like I've ever heard of," he finally settled on saying.

The light comment, that pointed out such the obvious, was enough for Leo to crack a sort of smile. "It's the kind of composition I used to hear sometimes in this room. It frightened me as a child," he said, sliding a few of his fingertips over the smooth surface of the keys.

Elliot tilted his head. "Then why would you play something like that, too?"

"Don't know. Sometimes these things just come to a person," was the best Leo could reason. To try to make the subject lighter, he asked more cheerfully, "If you'd like, maybe we can try to work to have you play again. I'm eager to hear Elliot play as well."

At that, the blond smiled a bit. "Fine. But you'd better be a good teacher."

"If you can't keep up, that's the fault of the student."

Elliot's eye narrowed. "Who told you that lie?"

"It's truth!" Leo insisted, before he couldn't help but laugh a little. He slowly stopped when he realized how intently Elliot was looking at him. It wasn't until Leo nearly forgot how to breathe that he noticed how hot his face felt, and how much this reminded him of the first time he had taken off his glasses for someone.

It was obvious Elliot seemed to be remembering the same thing. He reached out and softly brushed back the long spill of Leo's bangs, exposing his red face. A warm smile played upon Elliot's lips as he leaned in to kiss right beneath one of Leo's eyes. The raven felt his blush deepen that his cheeks almost burned.

"Next time," began Elliot, "let's have a more happy composition. This was beautiful, but I know there's something else, more songs in you, too."

Leo wanted to retort with a quip, something to criticize how damn _cheesy_ Elliot was being, but he looked down, forcing his hair to fall back into place before putting down the sheet of music. Madness wasn't beautiful. Elliot was such a liar. But...he would try. Maybe if he thought of something else...someone else.

_Okay, then...my next composition...I'll make for you_. Leo wanted to say it out loud, but didn't trust himself not to look stupid while doing it. Instead he got up and stretched. "That's enough of this for one day. I think I'll draw a bath or something, I feel filthy." He gave Elliot a critical look. "Don't you dare peek, either."

Pink dusted over the blond's cheeks. "L-like I'd ever, anyway!" he exclaimed, shooting up from the seat.

"I mean, there's curiosity, yeah, but we're both boys, so I don't have anything you don't," Leo went on saying with a grin as he began to walk out.

Elliot went after him, a low growl of frustration coming from him. "Why the hell are you so damn lewd?" he muttered.

"I think I'm a healthy amount of lewd," Leo proposed in counter with a laugh. "Not my fault Elliot gets so easily-"

Leo's sentence was cut off by the knock resonating even upstairs. Elliot seemed to have heard it too, and stopped right beside Leo. The blond frowned and asked slowly, "Was that...the front door?"

Leo blinked in surprise. "Yeah..."

"But isn't everyone here?"

"Yeah..." The raven quickly turned around towards the staircase as the knocks came again. He passed Gilbert, who had opened his door and asked Leo what was going on. But he had no time to stop, leaving it to Elliot to answer him as he nearly tripped over the stairs after taking two at a time. The knocks were louder at this point, the brass rings heavy against the wooden doors, and Leo reached out for the handle-!

Only to not quite make it when he crashed into Xerxes, who seemed to have popped up from the ground. Xerxes looked down at him briefly with a chuckle before opening the door with a loud creak. Leo tried not to scowl and looked over behind him, rubbing his nose that got smacked.

On the other side stood a tall man with a straight posture and glasses over his light-brown eyes. His gaze went first from Leo to Xerxes, seeming to assess them on the spot. Standing in front of him was a young woman with a stark contrast in disposition, her cheeks flushed merrily and her smile eager. Even so, her hands were politely over one another as she asked in a sweet voice, "Good afternoon. This is the home of Baskerville, yes?"

Leo blinked in surprise, trying to place this girl's face. Something about it was different, but the cute face, the blond hair - it all seemed vaguely familiar to him. He was so preoccupied with trying to figure out who she was, Xerxes answered her question in a quasi-suspicious tone. "Why, yes it is! Although if I may ask, who are the two of you?"

At that moment, Elliot had caught up to him, staying a good distance behind so as not to alarm the girl with the patch over his eye. Still, Leo heard the sharp intake of breath.

The young woman smiled pleasantly. "My name is Ada. I'm here because I think you knew my brother, Oz."

* * *

**Ending A/N**: Elliot has one eye now,_ Elliot has one eye now_, Elliot. Has. **One**. **Eye**. Now. (I'm sorry, I keep typing "eyes" and I'm getting really mad at myself, how dare I forget, ugh). I want to write out Elliot's past, at least one particular part of it. However, I highly doubt I'll be able to cover it in this sequel (even though somewhere later there's a hint of it). Maybe once this is done or something, or maybe even randomly, I'll write it out and publish it separately. Yes, bitty Elly went through shit before he and Vanessa went to the circus. I'm gomen.

I really hope the chapters get longer soon, this is just no. So. Things will...get interesting from here on out? I'm not sure how to put it, but it starts with Ada's visit. So please await the next chapter -bows-

Review?


	5. 4th Hour: Insane If You Think About It

**A/N: **I said the chapters would get longer, didn't I? -low laughter in the darkness- Oh! And in case no one has been to my profile lately, another fabulous piece of Clockwork Circus fanart has been added~ The kind **mitsukouchiha** on tumblr has given us more ragdoll Elliot~! Please do take a look at it, I'm so grateful for it~

Please enjoy -bows profusely- This chapter is longer, and a lot of new information in it, so if you ever found yourself confused, don't hesitate to speak up~

**_4th Hour: Insane If You Think About It_**

Even before he had properly began to get along with Elliot, Oz had been the first person Leo would have considered a friend. The two of them had stayed in the same boxcar in the Clockwork Circus, and when Oz was out one night, Leo had discovered a photo on the ground. It was a little girl with a great likeliness to Oz, smiling, radiant, and happy. Leo had no doubt in his mind it was Oz's sister, one he left behind when he was forced to join the circus. None of the freaks talked about their old lives, and Leo knew little to nothing about the girl in the photograph, not even her name.

_Ada_. The girl sitting in front of the raven now was named Ada, and she had introduced herself as Oz's sister. She was, of course, older - but those wide, verdant eyes and kind face could only belong to the girl in the photograph. Every part of her except her face was covered, and she didn't make a move to remove her gloves anytime soon. Never once did the cordial smile she had when they first opened the door falter or waver. Who Leo assumed to be her valet of some sort, Reim Lunettes, also kept his expression the same as the two visitors were escorted into the first-floor reception room.

Leo had thought maybe to get the other Baskervilles, but since Ada had come on business to discuss Oz, he figured maybe he'd be enough to talk to her. It really wasn't the kind of conversation he wanted to have with too many people around anyhow. He sent Elliot away at first opportunity, and tried to do the same to Xerxes, but the silver-haired man only ignored him. As it was, when they entered the reception room, they set themselves on opposite sofas, Ada and Reim on one, Leo and Xerxes on the other.

He was at a loss on what to say exactly, even with the buzz of thoughts swarming in his head. Xerxes was sitting uncannily quiet, and Emily was eerily not saying a word either.

"You own a very lovely home," Ada complimented with a smile, looking right at Leo.

He shook his head slightly. "Ah, thank you, but it's not like I actually own this place. I - it was - is my foster father's - Glen's," he fumbled in saying, scratching his cheek. Glen might be dead, but he was sure something like owning the mansion fell on one of the older Baskervilles, like Doug or Fang. Then again, being the closest Glen had to a legitimate son, who knew. Sadly, Leo added, "He's...passed. If you came here hoping to speak to him about Oz, you won't be able to."

Ada, hands folded over her lap, politely bowed her head. "I'm sorry to hear that. Having the chance to speak with him would've been an honor. However, you told me your name was Leo, so I think there's a greater chance you knew my brother better. If I may start?" At Leo's surprised but no less consenting nod, she pressed on. "Well, I'm here to talk about my brother. More specifically, the circumstances and details of his death. You see, I..." She pressed a hand to her chest. "I've been trying to look for him for years now."

_So she came here for closure_. Leo wet his lips, then took a decisive breath. "I'm sorry that you came here already knowing that Oz is dead," he said, trying to offer a consoling tone of voice. "You remember him leaving?"

"Oh yes," replied Ada sadly, "as surely as if it were yesterday. I was still a child then, but it was easy even then to feel how empty and dark the house was getting day by day after Mother died. Mother had been the only one to protect Oz from Father, who despised my brother. So as soon as she died, Father wasted no time in sending Oz far away...somewhere I didn't know..."

Yes, Leo knew the story. Oz had been the one to tell the raven himself his horrible backstory. Born a half-demon, his father loathed him, and that was why he removed him from the house, and from the family. Gilbert had been the one to find him, and bring him to the Clockwork Circus. He didn't know just how much Ada knew about that though.

"You say you know of his death," he prompted carefully. "That is, you found out where he ended up as well?"

Reim sharply pushed up his glasses as Ada turned to him. "Reim found out the information for me. Yes, I know where my brother had been living up until a few weeks ago." She sat up straighter, eyes slightly narrowed in pain. "It was a freakshow called the Clockwork Circus. They traveled around, doing...horrible things to the members of it, including my big brother."

There was a mask Oz used to wear. Leo remembered the first time that mask was removed in front of him, and the horrid scars that deformed half his face. Those scars were something that hadn't been there when Ada last saw him, but he decided against letting her become aware of them.

Ada continued. "And then my brother died in Sablier. I don't fully know how he managed to get there, but that's where he died, and he...burned up with the rest of the island...in that mysterious fire..."

"That's-" Leo stopped himself from telling her it wasn't true. Oz _did_ die in Sablier, but the cause of death wasn't when Leo set the place on fire. Moreover, his body wasn't left there to become ash - Leo had all but pleaded with Xerxes for that not to happen. He thought it'd be alright to tell her Oz was actually buried here, right outside the mansion, but then a few more details would have to be cleared up first.

Xerxes got up, interrupting the conversation. "Oh my, how rude of us indeed," he said airily, all eyes turning to him. "Proper hosts should present their guests with refreshments, and you've come all this way in such cold. I believe some nice, hot tea would do the trick. If you'll excuse me~" He waltzed off, holding Emily in his arms as he left the room. Leo only watched him long enough to watch him disappear in the other room before sitting a bit more comfortably.

Maybe Xerxes had been unconsciously making him feel a bit more on edge. It was like by the silver-haired man being gone, the air got lighter somehow. It was a feeling Leo couldn't exactly place the reason to have - that is, until Ada turned to him, cheeks flushed as if in fever. "I know about the Baskervilles," she stated in a rush, somewhat excitedly. When Leo snapped his head up to look at her, she was certainly smiling. "You're called Crimson Fausts, aren't you? People who have the cells of demons running in their blood?"

Leo sat up straighter, regarding her more carefully this time. "How do you know that?" he asked slowly.

"Mister Reim is a very efficient researcher. And once I took an interest in the subject as well, there was almost nothing we couldn't uncover," Ada chirped lightly, clapping her hands together happily once. "I wanted as much information as possible dug up about my brother, to know if I could save him somehow. And yet recently, startling new information has come up, things I would never have dreamed to be connected to him, and yet...are the reason he's dead.

"Demons. Gates to Hell. An organization called Pendulum. Crimson Fausts and Cannibal Marionettes. The Clockwork Circus, that had my half-demon brother," she said quietly, looking down at her boots. "And it also had you, a Crimson Faust. And a woman named Lacie, who had a mysterious object with her. We never found out the name of it, but apparently it was a tool to bring back a man named Jack Vessalius. It took a great amount of work, but through exorcist records we came across, the story of Lacie, Glen, and Jack became known. Mister Reim and I filled in the holes ourselves, and I know precisely how and why Oz died that night." Putting one gloved hand over the left side of her chest, she said, "My brother's heart was taken and given to those horrible people..."

With each word that left her, Leo's eyes grew wider. Where had all this knowledge been when she first entered? What was all that premise before? "You certainly...know a lot," Leo murmured when he found his voice. "Or that is, you know just about everything. I'm...impressed," he confessed with a blink of his eyes.

Ada's saddening expression quickly became an upbeat smile and she nodded. "Yes, as I said, both Mister Reim and I put all our minds and hearts into this. There wasn't a single thing I wanted to miss. Especially since the more information that came up, the larger this puzzle began to get." She flushed slightly again and hunched her shoulders forward, embarrassed. "Um, and to be honest, I find great fascination in such dark subjects."

Well, that wasn't something all the young ladies in this society would confess. Leo offered her a smile though - he liked her quite a bit. She was nothing like Oz, who was outgoing and humorous. Ada was shy and sweet. He really admired her for going after a brother she'd really only known in the fading memories of her childhood.

"So then you knew about Oz," Leo said solemnly, retracing back to her words.

"That I knew he was half-demon? Yes."

"And you say you know of the events of that Halloween night, when he died. Is that also how you knew where to find us?" He had no memories of people coming by often to the mansion. People knew it existed, but no one ever came to visit. If anyone came, it was usually through a letter addressed to Glen, people who knew he could help with certain affairs dealing with Cannibal Marionettes. And the people who had such knowledge were very few and far between.

Ada nodded. "I'm sorry to have pried. But it was necessary I find you Crimson Fausts. It's...the real reason I came here today," she suddenly announced, voice lowered and serious. She darted her eyes over to the door Xerxes left in, then shifted forward in her seat. She gave Leo a piercing look, holding him down to pay attention to her hushed words. "Mister Reim and I have been researching something as soon as my brother left, and there are some things we've learned that have prompted me to a certain decision."

"What's that?" Leo asked carefully, suddenly apprehensive. Ada was but a human girl, and she had found out a dangerous number of dark information that shouldn't be known to anyone outside that bloody sphere. Anything else she knew, to cause her to act upon something as seeking out the Baskervilles... It couldn't be good.

"Between the nature of my brother's birth, the gates to Hell, and lastly, the stories of Lacie and Glen in particular, I've come to ask your help with something." Eyes still firm and uncannily serious, Ada pleaded, "I understand how I might sound to you when I make my request, but..." She took a dignified breath and sat up straight, steeling herself.

"I'm going to make a journey down to Hell. And I would like to request that you, Mister Baskerville and the Crimson Fausts, act as my guards in my visit there."

Leo sucked in a breath. Halloween had been a living nightmare. He thought he was used to such things, but everything he encountered in the Clockwork Circus mission had taught him otherwise. There were still plenty things out there that could ice his blood and make his heart seize itself in terror - and a good majority of those things were what dwelt in the unknown world of Hell. And yet...so easily Ada said she needed him to accompany her there.

_What...what _world_ does she live in_?

Ada's eyes lowered, and she offered a small, humorous smile. "Your silence speaks for you. You're looking at me like I'm mad, I'm sure. I suppose I should've expected that with how I blurted it out, but there's probably no careful way to put it."

Leo's eyes were wide. She really was serious. This girl - this mortal girl, planned to take on the risks of Hell, and thought a few Crimson Fausts could help her accomplish whatever task she had. The horror, even beneath his mess of hair, must've been obvious on his face. He couldn't find his voice, much less words to say to her to respond to her...ridiculous proposal.

"I'm sorry," Ada finally said, more quietly with her shoulders drooping slightly. "This is a very strange and abrupt request, I am sure. And I'd like to pardon myself for my demands so far. It's just that..." Leo could see her begin to shake, her lips trembling as she bowed her head further until her bangs curtained her watering eyes. "My older brother...died because of circumstances that were a lot larger than him, and were thus out of his control. It wasn't his fault he was born as he was...and yet he died so cruelly because of it... And I w-want...to fix it...and make it b-better...some...how..." Her voice began to crack, and Leo saw a tear drop onto her curling fists.

Another, larger hand covered both of hers. "My lady," consoled Reim gently, producing a handkerchief and offering it to her. She took it, dabbing each of her eyes, and she cleared her throat daintily, saying an apology.

Finally, he calmed down enough to find something to say to her. "Ada... Why have you decided to take this risk? Do you even know anything about Hell?" asked Leo as gently as he could. "What about getting there, do you have a plan for that as well?"

After dabbing her eyes a bit more, Ada looked him in the eyes. "That's something I hoped we all could look into together, if you decided to accept my plea," she confessed, her brow creased in seriousness. Looking down at her hands, where one clutched Reim's crumpled handkerchief, she took a sharp inhale. "I know how dangerous this is, and that I am powerless... But if there's a chance for some things to be fixed...then I don't want to turn my eyes from the truth..."

_The truth? Things can be fixed? I don't understand any of this at all. If I were to be frank about it...there is something about this I do not like in the least_, Leo thought, staring at Ada. Was it because the idea was just that ridiculous? Or was it something else entirely? Either way, Leo's insides were twisting into knots at the notion someone so defenseless and ignorant would willingly go into the dark, unknown pits of Hell. _No one does that, no one_... The more Leo thought about it, the more he realized the voice that screamed 'no!' deep inside him was one drenched in cold fear. Flashbacks of his nightmare earlier crossed his mind and he shivered, hands twitching to rub up and down his arms.

"Ada..." he began to murmur.

"If I gave you a week to consider it, would you?" she asked abruptly.

Leo wanted to shake his head. He didn't want to go, he simply didn't. He mustered the strength not to though, and instead came up with his own question in counter. Evenly as he could, he inquired, "What if the other Crimson Fausts and I collectively choose to not...accompany you?" If he said 'help' he would've just felt pathetic about it for even thinking to decline her request.

It wasn't an expression Leo wanted to give her, but there was no helping for the distressed look on Ada's face. The next second, she straightened herself up and calmed herself. "In that case, it would be unfortunate, but I'll try to think up alternate means. Of course, that could take up quite a bit of time... Nevertheless, I do not want to back down from my decision. Mister Reim has also tried to get me out of this, but I will stand firm." After a pause, she said, "It wasn't as if I expected you to agree with me right away. That's why I'm giving you the option of a week's consideration. If you say yes, we can think up something together to do - to keep everyone safe and to get what we want."

That word caught Leo's attention. "We?"

Ada tilted her head slightly, smiling. "How much do you know about Hell?" she inquired. With the way she relaxed, it was obvious she didn't expect and answer for this. "Some say it's nothing how we envision it to be. Some think it's a place for answers, for those who have their lives seeped into its darkness. For a Crimson Faust such as yourself, it can no doubt be of some benefit to you. Glen Baskerville had been a demon," she pointed out. "You're connected to the dark depths of that place. And even if it's just through Oz, so do I."

"This must sound strange for you," Reim suddenly spoke up. He gave Leo an open look. "This is how I've come to consider this. We've stopped singularly thinking of Hell as a place of 'ruin', and more of a place of 'opportunity'. What it is depends on the tie you have to it, of course. What's undeniable, however," he pushed his glasses up again, "is the chance to gain truth."

"So to you...," Leo tried to piece together, thread by thread, "Hell is where truth is."

"Maybe even the greatest of truths. The reason it'll remain unknown is because of the dangerous dark surrounding it," Ada put in cryptically. She offered a more shaky smile. "It's...scary. But I would like that truth. I want...to take the chance. I...want Oz to..." She closed her eyes. Reim took her hand again and held it.

Leo processed the information, weighing it all in his mind. What struck him the most was how two ordinary people could think so abstractly about a place he thought he knew about. Part of him was convinced it was because they were completely ignorant to how it really was in Hell. But another part of him reminded him that he hadn't been there himself. Even if his life had been a mess of blood and murder, there was little to nothing he really understood. _What kind of truth...can be offered to be down there_...?

Wetting his lips, he asked, "A week, was it?" He heard Ada let out a small gasp, snapping her head up to gaze at him with wide, green eyes. He shrugged it off and decided to speak quickly, before his resolve faded. "Alright. I'll think about it. I'll make sure to tell the others as well. In a week, come back and we'll give you the answer."

Ada rose slightly from her seat, eyes watering. "L-Leo..." She smiled in relief just as a tear fell down her pink cheek. "Thank you so much. Even if it's just a consideration, thank you."

He saw no reason to be thanked when he answered her so impulsively. Still, if it gave her some solace, he supposed it was for the best that he spoke. After all, the agreement was that he'd think about it - the possibility that he would answer in the affirmative was still a long ways away. The week was something to be grateful for - this decision was a lot larger than him, and the guidance of the others was what he needed right then. Rising up from his seat as well, Leo asked, "Would that be all then?"

Ada nodded her head fervently, apparently still energetic from his reply. "Yes, of course. I must get home right away, if that's alright!"

"Oh... Um, of course." He took a glance over to where Xerxes had drifted off to. "I'm sorry we never did get to give you both some tea. Maybe you'd like to stay a bit longer since you took all the trouble to come here?"

Ada waved her gloved hand, laughing softly. "Ah, but we all but intruded upon you! It's really okay. We've overstayed our welcome, anyhow. Mister Reim?" She took his arm and began to walk out the room. "We can see ourselves out. Thank you again for letting us intrude, and have such a dark conversation forced on you. I'm really sorry for that."

"Don't be," Leo said dismissively. Ada's sudden bubbly air took him aback, but it was miles better than when she was darkly serious or on the verge of tears. He followed them out to the door before remembering something, gasping. "Ah, before you leave, I think there's something you should know," Leo said, jumping up from his seat. Ada turned to look back at him in question. Lowering the arm he had reached out to her, he explained, "That night Oz died. I was there, too. And I didn't leave his body behind there." Ada gasped in shock, and Leo calmly brushed his fingers against her arm. "I'm sure this was the best thing to do, since you weren't there. But I brought Oz back here to this mansion, and he's buried right outside it. If you'd like, you can visit him right now."

Ada stepped away from his touch, and her eyes were wide, glistening with unshed tears. Finally, she nodded, quickly. "Yes. Yes, please. I'd like to see my brother," she said, her voice surprisingly stable.

Leo led them out the room and to one of the back doors that led straight to Charlotte and Oz's now snow-covered graves. Wooden markers showed where each grave was. In the empty days that followed all the death, Fang had taken the time to make more appropriate markers until one of stone could be made. Oz and Charlotte's names were carved into the wood in fine, neat print, their years of birth and death also marked. Leo was no longer afraid to approach their graves, but he shied away as Ada took tentative steps toward them, Reim behind her. Leo exchanged a small nod with the tall man, and he let the two have their privacy, knowing they'd be able to see their way out afterwards.

"Thank you," came Ada's soft whisper of gratitude.

With another nod, and sad smile, Leo left the two and returned back into the warm mansion. Now then, to figure out where in the world Xerxes had drifted off to. He retraced back to the room they had been in and went into the door Xerxes went into. Almost immediately afterward was there a pleasant scent of tea in the air, and Leo followed it into the small sitting room right next to the kitchen, its door wide open. Leo peeked inside, finding Xerxes lounging on one of the chairs, and Elliot plopped on a sofa, arms crossed and leg bouncing up and down lightly in impatience. A little tabl in front of them had a tea tray perched on top of it. The raven cleared his throat in announcement and the two looked up at him.

"Mister Leo~," Xerxes sang in greeting, lifting up his cup of tea.

"About time," Elliot grumbled. "We were waiting ages for you."

"Indeed, come have a cup before it gets too cold." The silver-haired man held a hand out invitingly to the tea tray that held the silver pot, three cups with saucers beneath and stirring spoons inside them, a small jar of sugar nestled between it all.

Leo gave him an assessing look, coming into the room. "You didn't come back. I don't think it takes that long to prepare some tea and snacks."

"If one wants to present their guest first-rate hospitality, then it takes time," reprimanded Xerxes, taking a sip of tea. Lips still pressed against the rim of the cup, he muttered, "Besides, it's not like you made it easy to produce tasty sweets with your sorry supply of ingredients."

Shrugging, Leo was about to walk off when he stopped. "You know," he began, "after you left, Ada began to talk a lot more. She even told me about the real reason for her coming here. You knew it was going to happen. Why? You don't think she would've revealed the same things in front of you or something?" He tilted his head towards the silver-haired man. Elliot looked up from his own cup at that.

Xerxes plopped a sugar cube into the tea and began fervently stirring. "Mm, that all depends on what she said after I left," he prompted, giving Leo a pointed stare. Seeing no reason why Xerxes shouldn't know, Leo recounted the details of the conversation he had with Ada. Both Xerxes and Elliot listened attentively, the latter nearly choking on his tea when Leo got to the part of going down to Hell. After the fiasco at Halloween, Leo expected Xerxes to be angered at the idea, but instead he raised his brows. "Hohh, so that's the game, is it?"

"There's one problem though. And now that I think of it, I wonder if you can help us with it," Leo said, unceremoniously plopping himself onto Elliot's lap, who huffed, and shoved him off.

"And what would that be~?" lilted the silver-haired man, taking a mighty gulp from his cup.

"We don't know how to get in. All the possible gates' locations are unknown, save for Sablier's which we destroyed, and it wouldn't matter anyway because they wouldn't be of use to us until months from now," Leo said. He took a cup of tea himself since it was there, liking the warmth radiating on his hands and spreading in his body.

Elliot was now hugging his knees to himself to keep from Leo sitting on him again. "Good!" he exclaimed. "You don't need to go down there anyway, and neither does she. What are you all trying to do, look for trouble? Why do you even have to consider agreeing to this insane idea anyhow?"

Honestly, Leo had no legitimate answer to that. It seemed like the normal thing to do, to accept a mission like that, or at least think about it. Although thinking it over, Glen never really sent them missions that involved going to Hell, and the closest that ever came was the Clockwork Circus case. Remembering how hurt Echo had gotten with Oz, he hesitated._  
_

"Well, even if he chooses not to agree, I might force him to anyhow," came Xerxes' answer. When the two boys stared at him in shock, he only explained, "I have business down there as well. It's been my true goal all along to get there. Lacie was my closest lead to finding a way there, but now she's dead. Now that this new opportunity has come by, there's no way I'm letting it go. Mister Leo there will be going, and so will I."

"_What_?"

"So that's the real reason you joined the Clockwork Circus - you and Sharon," Leo said slowly, the truth dawning on him. The two members of the circus who didn't seem to quite belong, who displayed strange knowledge and talents that night demons nearly took over all of Sablier once more - the two that even Elliot and Echo had felt were off somehow.

Xerxes only smiled mysteriously, but obviously an answer in the affirmative to Leo's accusation. Elliot gave the silver-haired man an assessing look, probably the most concentrated expression Leo had seen on the blond's face. Maybe it was more disturbing to him to finally know what set Xerxes and Sharon apart from the others, even when the members of the circus had accepted them like family.

_He's probably thinking to himself that it was fine, since neither of them hurt anyone_, Leo thought. He wondered if that was the black-and-white of Elliot's mindset: who did and didn't hurt his family deemed if they were bad or good._ Not like he was exposed to any other kind of people_.

"I hope you've got some brilliant plan then to get into Hell and not die before you come back," Elliot said then, bringing his legs down. His voice seemed to be dripping sarcasm, even when his expression was evenly serious. "If you wanted to get in there so bad, the planning can be left to you, can't it?"

Xerxes' blinked in surprise, slowly putting down his stirring spoon. "My, aren't we just piling on the pressure, Mister Elliot," he said, almost pouting. Then, with a devious smile, he laid back on his chair, lifting his feet to cross his ankles over the table. "But you're right about that. Getting into Hell is something I've been trying to look into for quite some time now. As I said, Lacie had been my target to figuring out how."

"Why didn't you just use the one in Sablier? You were the one to close it," Leo pointed out.

"The gate in Sablier was unstable," Xerxes said matter-of-factually, pointing his spoon at the raven. "Due to the day, it was a gate meant for demons to come _out_ rather than have anyone go _in_. I had no benefit in keeping it open."

"Then what's Plan B?" Elliot demanded, crossing his arms. Even with one eye, his stare still held all the straightforward, no-nonsense of both.

It at first looked like Xerxes would get angry at Elliot, with the frustration in his expression, but he only sat up and carefully put down his cup and saucer. All trace of his usual playful attitude had vanished. "There isn't one," he confessed in a low voice. Lacing his fingers together, he said, "There are countless theories that occultists and practitioners of the Dark Arts have come up with, but going through all of them would only be a chore, not to mention a waste of time. The only method that can be remotely trusted is the one of demons. However, since the only known demons that possess the knowledge of it have perished..." Xerxes' hands curled into fists, and Emily looked worried. And in the middle of them sitting in the thick silence, she blurted, "The revenants! The revenants!"

Her shrill voice came so suddenly that Leo actually jumped. "Revenants?" he repeated uncertainly.

"That sounds familiar...," mused Elliot. After a moment's pause, he snapped his fingers. "They're those guys Glen told us about. Sharon had the machete that belonged to one of them."

"The ones with red hair, in grey robes," Leo recalled in clarity. He looked into Emily's beady eyes. "But what would they know? They're not even demons."

A deeply thoughtful expression was on Xerxes' countenance. Eye narrowed in consideration, he threaded together slowly, "Indeed... But...dear Emily might be on to something here..." Lost in his own thoughts, he hummed lowly, then began to nod - first slowly, then excitedly. "Yes... Yes! Little Emily, I believe you've made a breakthrough for us~"

"Huh?" Leo and Elliot said together. Whatever Xerxes had figured out, it was beyond their heads, and Leo prided himself in being able to be fast with this kind of thing. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't see how those...creatures could help. More to the point...

"Even if they can help, how are you going to get one?" Leo asked. "Glen told me that they linger near where there's a lot of death, like in Sablier."

Xerxes, full of his own plans, merely got up and took the tea tray on the table. "We'll just have to go to a place where there's a lot of death then, hmm?" he countered simply. Balancing the tray on top of his head, he hummed again. "A week, was it? Ample time indeed to figure out a suitable place. All that's really left now is..."

Elliot cut in, voice firm. "Finding out how to stay alive down there."

"Of course," Xerxes said with an obliging smile. "That will be taken care of as well."

In a low voice, Elliot muttered in worry, "Can it really be left to you, Xerxes?"

"Have I ever steered you wrong? I'm telling you not to doubt me. After all, I need this opportunity as well," he lightly reminded the blond. "I suggest Mister Leo make his own preparations as well, and not waste the week we are given." With a wink, he twirled around and disappeared through the kitchen door.

Once they were sure the silver-haired man wouldn't come back, Elliot glanced over at Leo in question. "What do you think he meant by all that with the revenants? You think they really know a way to get in?"

Leo shrugged, honestly not having a clue either. "Whether they know or not, Xerxes apparently sees them as useful." He sighed. "So I guess we really should leave it up to him." He straightened up and made his way out into the hallway, Elliot getting up and following behind him.

"So that's it then? You're really going through because Xerxes says you should?"

It was a question he should've seen coming. Leo brushed some hair over his shoulder, curling his fingers around the tangled mess as he thought up an answer that would satisfy Elliot. "It's not really that...," he confessed. He thought about what Ada and Reim had said before, about Hell being a place of truth. They made it back to Leo's room in relatively short time, and they plopped themselves down onto the mattress. Leo waited until then to finally answer. "The reason is more like...maybe there's something there I can learn. About myself, the other Crimson Fausts. If I'm lucky, maybe...even about Glen..."

Elliot raised his brows, turning to the raven. "What makes you think you'll find out anything?" the blond asked dubiously.

"I don't, but if there's a chance, I'm trying it," Leo said with a note of finality. He looked over at Elliot and wiped his bangs away, smiling. He could see the blond clearly now and laughed at the frown that still creased Elliot's brow. At the scowl he received, he said, "It's so sweet how you worry."

Elliot scoffed. "I'm being _reasonable_ here. Someone has to be. You think you can take on anything just because you got Jabberwocky," he pointed out, shoving Leo playfully. Leo laughed lightly and rolled onto his back. He was so busy being happy to have the air turn light that he almost jumped in surprise when he realized Elliot was half on top of him. Without his bangs covering his face, Leo received the full intense effect of Elliot staring him down. Leo searched the blond's face for a clue as to what brought this on, but got nothing. Elliot reached up then, his hand softly cradling Leo's cheek. The gentle gesture was enough that Leo didn't feel the full weight of Elliot's words when he murmured, "I'm going with you."

Smiling languidly, lost in the touch and comfort of Elliot's voice, Leo hummed in agreement. He closed his eyes, forgetting all the talk moments ago, letting his mind drift to nothing else but being in the quiet with Elliot's warmth beside him...

The door opened wide, hitting the wall as Gilbert stepped into the room, eyes determined and locking onto Leo. "I'm going with you."

The two boys jumped up, staring with wide eyes at the sudden visitor. Even setting aside how sudden Gilbert had cut in, and in the middle of the raven's hazing mind, Leo barely registered the meaning of the terse statement - it was that incomprehensible to him. Incomprehensible and stupid, so there's no way Gilbert implied anything Leo thought he meant. Blinking, he said, "...Excuse me?"

"You. I'm going with you down to Hell," Gilbert reaffirmed without hesitation. He stepped further into the room, hands curls into fists at his sides. "And nothing you say will stop me."

"You were listening in on us," Leo murmured.

Gilbert nodded. "I didn't know what was going on downstairs, but I saw her out the window when she left - that was Ada, wasn't it?" That got the two teenaged boys to blink in surprise. "She's the girl, the _sister_, Oz would tell me about. I'd never mistake her for any other girl. That was Ada. She's going to Hell because of something that has to do with Oz - why else would she be here?" As if it were all the premise he needed, he finished firmly, "I want to help her."

Numbly, the tightrope walker made an incredulous sound. "Are...are you stupid? Did you fall on your head or something?" Elliot snapped, rising from the bed. "Gilbert, you're staying here where it's safe."

In a heated growl Leo never thought to hear from the winged man, Gilbert muttered, "Stay out of it, Elliot. You're going to go, aren't you? Well, so am I! I need to get down there, and I'll kill every demon I see down there until I find the one that made Oz that way, and caused him to suffer so much!"

Before he could stop it, a disbelieving bark of laughter left Leo's mouth. "What? Gilbert, that's ridiculous. You're not thinking straight." When anger sparked in Gilbert's eyes, Leo corrected himself to a more gentle tone. "I understand your intentions. But waltzing straight into Hell isn't going to do you any good. You're just a human and you wouldn't stand a chance against demons. At least me and the Baskervilles are Crimson Fausts, and can therefore wield weapons to defend ourselves with."

"There must be something I can learn though," the winged man insisted lowly. "I won't lay here idly while I know a chance for avenging Oz is out there."

The conversation was decidedly taking a turn for the darker. Leo got off the bed too, leaning in towards Gilbert, giving him a serious look. "Vengeance? You're doing this to avenge Oz? Gilbert, I don't think that's something he would have wanted..." Pleading with a softer voice, he said, "Oz would want you here, and not to risk your life. Ada may have Oz as her motivation, but something like revenge isn't on her mind at all."

That seemed to startle the winged man, but only for a split second, and his resolve returned. "But Oz was suffering and he didn't... He never told me a thing!" Gilbert shouted. His expression changed, it was more pained now. "That's why...I have to go down, and show that I can still-"

Elliot interrupted, visible eye unrelenting. "Do you think it'll be a damn _game_ out there? Do you know what happens when humans like us go out there unprepared?" he began to yell, his voice rising to undeniable rage.

Gilbert let out a quiet breath, brow furrowing in sad understanding. "Elliot, don't-"

"_Is **this** what you want to happen to you, Gilbert_!?" bellowed the blond. His hand shot up to his eyepatch and yanked it off. The black cloth curled in his fist, and Gilbert looked with pained eyes at the empty hole in Elliot's face, where his other eye once was. Leo managed to not flinch or even look away, staring straight on at the black socket.

The last pieces of the raven-haired man's tough armor seemed to chink away at that, and he glanced down at the floor, frustration and pain written plainly on his countenance. Elliot wasn't shaking or yelling anymore - if anything, he was uncannily composed. Leo watched with admiring eyes as the blond let out a sigh and tied his eyepatch back into place.

"Lacie may not have been a demon anymore when she took my eye," he began to explain, voice hard, "but she's still an example of how dangerous it can be out there. I've never met a full-blooded demon, but if they're the same amount of ruthless as everything I encountered that night - then you'll not be coming back here in a single piece. You're not that stupid, Gilbert." He swallowed then, and he went over to grip Gilbert's shoulder. "I miss Oz, too. But plunging headfirst to your death isn't the right way to mourn, or show that you still care about him."

Slowly, Gilbert bowed his head, shoulders drooping. One of his hands shakily came up to curl around Elliot's wrist.

"Oz was just a half-demon," Leo began to murmur after a long, thick silence. "You couldn't even handle him. Down in Hell, there are bound to be full demons, hoards of them. Gilbert...we mean no harm by it. It's simply the truth. Ada and Reim will be enough to guard in that place, not to mention ourselves. And..." He bit the inside of his cheek, glancing at Elliot, who was looking at him. Feeling like his head was just cleared, Leo finished, "And so if we do decide to accept this mission, Elliot will stay here with all of you, too."

He didn't bother to see Elliot's reaction, and Gilbert only shook slightly and muttered out, "I see... I'm sorry for bothering you." He removed Elliot's hand from his shoulder and went out the door, closing it almost inaudibly behind him. Leo doubted it would be the very last they'd hear of it, but...

"That went well," he remarked absently. Leo went to his closet then, suddenly alert as he took off the clothes he had on. He heard Elliot make a surprised sound that made Leo want to laugh. He put on a new pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt. When that was done, he quickly laced up some boots on his feet then got up to rummage through one of his drawers. He knew Elliot was watching him curiously, and finally the blond asked, "Leo, what are you doing?"

"What's it look like? I'm getting ready," he replied tersely. Ah, there was his hair tie. Really, all this hair... Maybe he should think about getting it cut. Putting his hair back, but still having bangs all over his face, he gave out a deep breath and stretched. It had been awhile, so he'd have to make sure not to pull a muscle or something - that'd be beyond embarrassing. He could already remember how Charlotte used to reprimand him for not being nimble enough.

Elliot frowned. "But Ada's not coming back for another week. Have you already made your decision?"

"Of course not, but this is time that can be better spent," said Leo, prodding the end of Elliot's nose.

"Well, what are you doing getting all ready for?" he asked, slapping Leo's hand away.

Leo tilted his head. "Training, of course. I'm going to go get the others." He counted off on his fingers. "First off, to tell them of the situation, and then secondly, if any of them are onboard, then we'll have to get to training. It's been weeks since any of us had a proper fight, and we're going to go against demons now. We can't afford to be slow."

Elliot seemed to be thinking it over. "But will a week really be enough? You'll just be sparring each other."

Tucking some hair behind his ear, Leo gave a shrug. "I actually don't know. We're not full demons, and neither are we half like Oz. But we've still got demon blood in us, and demon powers. We've got the instincts for it."

"I don't know, Leo," said Elliot quietly. "There's a lot about this that I don't like. It's like you're going on a suicide mission..."

_I know that... Don't you think I'm scared, too_? Demons were horrific, every image of nightmares he had and heard of. Never did he want to encounter them again, but... "It'll be fine. Besides, Ada said...we all might have something to gain there. I thought after Glen died, it was over. But...if there's something in Hell that can help me...then I want to know exactly what it is. It's where Glen was from, after all," he muttered, looking down. Yes, and Glen had been a demon too, right? Maybe what Oz showed him then back at the forest had been some trick. Maybe demons weren't like that at all.

Maybe...

"We can settle it all some more after Ada comes in a week." Leo left it at that with a nod, turning to leave out the door.

"Leo," Elliot called. "If you and the others do decide to go, you're not really going to leave me here, are you?" His voice was firm, and very clear. There was no way Leo could've missed the question, but he surely did wish he hadn't heard it.

Hand still on the doorknob, Leo turned to the blond. "Well," he began, "we'd both seem like awfully big liars and hypocrites if you didn't, right?" Before Elliot could even fit in a protest, the raven let out a deep breath. "Elliot, I don't like it either. But let's be realistic, shall we? Maybe it was a good thing Gilbert came by. He let us think about some pretty good points. I feel stupid for not considering your safety first, especially after what you've already been through." He glanced pointedly at Elliot's eyepatch as he said that. The tightrope walker's remaining eye fixated on him with a wide, disbelieving gaze. Leo didn't know what expression he expected - maybe something with anger or disagreement - but it certainly wasn't the barely hidden hurt he saw right then.

"But-"

"No."

"Leo, just let me ex-"

"You're not going, Elliot."

"I still have that machete, I can-"

"Will you shut up."

"I let _you_ talk, now if you'd just-"

"Elliot, I'm dead serious."

"I know I've never fought demons, but I'm not completely useless!"

Something in the raven snapped. "_Shut up, you're **are **useless, you damn idiot_!" he shouted, yanking on the doorknob so roughly there came a crack of wood. The knob dangled pathetically in its place, more than one screw lose. The two stood, paralyzed, and apparently breathing heavy. Leo cursed under his breath and let the knob go. Gritting his teeth, he said slowly and quietly, "Look, I know you're worried about me, but you going wouldn't change anything. When it comes down to it, despite the stitches, you're still human. And so-"

"Just go then," Elliot snapped in a growl.

Leo blinked in surprise. Automatically he knew what spurred the cold statement. He didn't know it would hit a nerve. Leaving wasn't exactly the thing he wanted to do, but he didn't want to make anything worse either. Lowering his gaze, he stepped out and closed the door behind him. It didn't click into place, and the broken door was left ajar, the knob dangling uselessly. Leo took a calming breath. Great.

Something else he'd have to try to patch up now.

* * *

**Ending A/N**: I SAID IT WOULD BE LONG, THERE YOU GO -collapses in a puddle of exhaustion, breathing heavy- Well...this certainly took time until I thought it was right... I hope everything came out well enough. Ada's request was a sudden thing, no? After awhile, their conversation took an interesting turn I hadn't expected it to. I suspect it's all the manga I'm reading lately; my mind feels numb with weird things at the moment. Hopefully I utilized it well enough to work in the story (or did something sound weird, oh my goodness, just tell me whenever you guys are confused, I need criticism, you don't understand -shot-)

So! Am I worthy of a review? I told you things would get going now, so let's get ready for a lot of rolling downhill into the inevitable pile of madness -nods-


	6. 5th Hour: Hell to the Graveyard Song

**A/N: **And so begins the next chapter! (I love summer, don't you?) I wrote half of this while pumped up on like...I don't know, adrenaline or something - who knows, I was really hyper and pumped and dished out the majority of this chapter -breathes a bit deeply- I promise I'm getting and reading every single of your reviews! I'm sorry I didn't reply to anyone who's been leaving a review lately (and not just this story, my others as well). But I do read each one and feel extremely happy when I do, and the fic feels very loved indeed (think of the fic as some animate being like a pet. A cat, perhaps, yes. And it purrs in bliss when it receives reviews which is like you petting it -nods in certainty-). I'll do my best to properly send thanks this time!

By the way, Clockwork Circus has been presented once more with wonderful fanart (at this point, I'm just literally crying in bliss. You readers are so beautiful, I'm so serious). The fanart has been posted on my profile as always! **ShirleyWade**-chan on dA posted a whole mini comic of Elliot doing his act, wah! -breathes heavily- Please do take a look!

Please enjoy! -bows-

**_5th Hour: Hell to the Graveyard Song_**

The next few days were somehow colder than usual. The sky was more grey and there was a day in which it snowed for all hours, the whiteness building up rapidly on the ground. After waking up to that development, Lily had turned to Leo with raised brows. "You sure training in all this winter weather is really helping?" She tilted her head. "I mean, down there, it's really hot, right?"

At that, Leo could only shrug, smiling a bit as they gazed out the window. "Is Hell of fire or of ice? I think there's a poem of that or the like," he mused mindlessly, staring transfixed at the falling frozen flakes. The two spent a few more minutes like this, standing beside one another as the snow continued on. The green of the trees were barely visible now. There was hardly anything out that wasn't in some monochrome white or grey shade.

Sparring had gone on for three days now. Leo had informed the other Baskervilles of the situation, and as he expected, all of them weren't too keen on agreeing to a mission from a girl they had never met before. Leo knew there wasn't much to help the situation, and he didn't know of anything that could convince them. Still, Echo and Doug looked to be the first to waver, asking Leo if he really planned on going through with this mission.

"I shall go along," Doug then said after Leo gave his answer. Echo had followed suit. Leo was truly grateful to both, but as he glanced at Echo then, he could only remember how horribly Oz had wounded her. She had been cut deeply by Oz's scythe, and would have died had Fang not attended to her in time.

It had been as though Echo had expected this. She was actually the one to try and get Lily and Fang to come around and agree to the mission. Understandably he supposed, Lily still declined. He hadn't wanted to really take her anyhow. She may have had the powers of a demon, and could be a little sadistic, but she was, in the end, still a child. Easily prone to fear - and nightmares. So Leo didn't fight her decision, only ruffling her hair. So Lily would stay. Leo still thought about leaving Echo as well. While it would be ideal to bring every Crimson Faust at hand, there were also other things the raven was considering now that he had the time to ponder them. Of the five of them, he and Doug were the most experienced with their scythes. Fang was good at using his powers to use magick, and with such powers he was able to heal Echo more than once. Lily was excellent with her scythe as well, but Leo had already decided it would be better if she stayed. And Echo...

Echo had been trapped in an asylum for who knew how long. She could be a capable fighter if she wanted, but Leo worried. The girl he met at the asylum had surely been the 'Noise' Echo spoke of from time to time. And if Lily's recount of that Halloween night was anything to go by, Noise had also been there when the fight with Oz's demon form had begun. Yes...Leo worried quite a bit.

"Hey," piped up Lily. Her arms were folded on the sill of the window, looking up at Leo with her big blue eyes full of question. "Is everything okay with you and Elliot?"

"Huh?" Leo blinked in surprise, attention torn away from outside the window. His stomach lurched a bit and he tried his hardest not to grimace. Things between him and Elliot... How to say it? Leo scratched his cheek a bit. "He's mad at me. I think he hates me right now," he settled on replying in his usual nonchalant manner. It was true enough, he supposed. The two had hardly spoken a word to each other in the past three days. A few times it looked like Elliot wanted to say something to him, but either Leo would walk away before that happened, or Elliot would look away with a frustrated breath. They were both being stubborn, and Leo knew it, but he didn't know how to fix this - what he said might have crossed a line, but was it not the truth?

Lily made a face. "Why do you have to make people hate you, Leo?" she asked blandly. "That's not how to make friends."

Really, he had half a mind to give her helpful advice on the complexities of friendship, but ultimately decided against it. "Ahaha, I'm not used to friends," he confessed, and left it at that. Patting her head, he walked upstairs. If he and the others couldn't spar today, then he'd do what he hadn't quite had the time to get to yet.

He blew his bangs away from his lips, walking down the hallway until finally making it to the room Gilbert and Vincent stayed in. Right now, he knew Gilbert was with most of the other freaks downstairs, so any kind of awkward encounter between them could be avoided.

_I'm learning I'm rather good at avoiding_...

Vincent answered on the second round of knocking. His mismatched red and gold eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Leo there. The raven only supposed that was to be expected. They had never really spoken before, and Leo didn't have much in idea of what Vincent was like, save for when the others spoken of him. There was one thing Leo did know about Vincent, and that was the reason he came by then.

"Hohh... Mister Leo Baskerville," he addressed, expression amused now as he opened the door wider. Long blond hair slowly fell off his shoulder as he tilted his head. "Is there something I can help you with? If you need big brother, he's nothere at the moment."

Leo shook his head. "That's fine. It's you I needed to see anyway." He gestured for permission to enter and the door was opened more to him, the raven stepping inside.

The room was pretty much as he expected it to be. Most anything that could be torn was - curtains, pillows, the cloth covering the canopy of the large bed. Vincent had obviously been a lot busier with his scissors than Alyss had been. But just like then, Leo didn't really care, and instead glanced back over at Vincent.

Just like all the other freaks, Vincent's body was in a certain deformed state. His abnormality sprouted out from his back, in the form of dirty, fleshless wings. Leo didn't know if the bones could move even with the absence of muscles, but he supposed he wouldn't be surprised if they could.

He looked back at Vincent when he was well into the room. "Been working out those scissors much?" he asked humorously.

Vincent only shrugged. "Shredding things makes me feel, how to say it? At ease," he explained with a mysterious smile.

"Then I have one thing to request of you with your scissors," Leo started, setting himself neatly on the edge of the bed, hands on his lap. He gave Vincent a more serious look. "That is, if you'd help me?"

* * *

"You should know that I've never done this to anyone except my big brother."

There was a press of cold metal against the back of Leo's neck. He was sitting in Gilbert and Vincent's bathroom, a stool pulled inside so that Leo could face the mirror, even though he was staring blankly into the sink. Vincent stood behind him, and there was the sharp sound of snipping right behind Leo's head.

"It's really fine," he said with a small chuckle. "I was worried that if I did it myself, it'd look worse than it already is."

Vincent brushed down Leo's hair some more before gathering another section to cut. "Didn't want it too short, am I correct?"

Leo nodded. He found himself flushing a bit at Vincent's silence, his hands and attention completely absorbed at the task at hand. He usually liked the silence, but found it somehow awkward with Vincent, and the blond seemed completely aware that Leo was currently struggling to come up with something to say - the eased smile on his lips said as much.

_Snip_. _Snip_.

"How is...Gilbert, by the way?" Leo chanced to ask. He hadn't heard much from the raven-haired man since that day.

Vincent's expression didn't waver. He brushed down the section he just cut and moved on. "Big brother? He is as mournful as ever, to be honest." He glanced up, meeting the gaze of Leo's reflected eyes beneath his long bangs. "He truly did desire to go avenge the one he loved most in the world."

"But you understand why I couldn't let him go, right?" Leo said. He closed his eyes as Vincent turned him slightly in order to brush down his bangs.

The bristles of the brush scratched mildly against Leo's forehead and nose, and Vincent hummed in musing. "I do. As much as I would always side with my brother, I must admit that I wouldn't wish his death upon him, much less have it be in such a terrifying place as Hell." His tone indicated that that infernal underground actually held no terror for him.

_Well, not that anyone seriously thinks about some place like that_, Leo reasoned dryly. Thinking of all the people in the world who didn't even know it to even be a real place put his whole frame of the matter in a different light. It didn't mean however, Gilbert should still go down with him and the others in their mission. If anything, ignorance was bliss.

The scissors cut over his eyes, small tendrils of hair tickling his nose and lashes that Vincent wiped away lightly. Leo, when it was safe to open his eyes, glanced down. "I'm not letting Elliot come either," he told Vincent.

Vincent hummed, arching a brow slightly. "It does sound like the kind of thing Elliot would want to join in on." He smiled again. "Especially if you're going to risk your life. Tilt your head down a bit." He brushed down and then gathered another section of hair behind Leo's head.

"I don't want Elliot to die because I let him do as he pleased. Wouldn't you do the same for Gilbert?" he asked. For all his impulsiveness, he was quite perceptive. He heard the scissors gradually cut slower, Vincent hanging on to Leo's words now. "Elliot told me, you know? That Gilbert mutilated himself like that after your parents... He did it to be with you in the circus."

Vincent seemed neither angry nor saddened by Leo's words. Almost predictably, he took the comments in stride, resuming to cut at normal speed again. "Yes. Our parents certainly did _try_ their best to love me, or so Gil tells me. I do not remember them at all, you see." _Snip. Snip. Snip_. "Not that I have any complaints. I only need Gil."

"So you're not... Do you...regret what happened to him?"

The scissors clicked harshly on the counter as Vincent took a step back. "There, how does that work for you?"

Leo lifted his head up. A mark was scratched on the surface of the counter where Vincent had slammed them down. He then glanced in the mirror, blinking in almost shock. It had been for his whole life that his bangs were overgrown, covering his eyes like Glen told him to. Right now though, he could see his eyes clearly, his bangs shorter and framing his dark eyes, drawing attention to them. The back of his hair, while still long, only went slightly past his shoulders rather than tumbling down in an unkempt between his shoulder blades. He found himself staring wide-eyed into the mirror, barely recognizing the person being reflected. He looked...older somehow.

"I... You really are good with scissors," was the only thing he could think of to comment.

"We all need our hobbies," Vincent said with a pleased smile. But like with most of Vincent's actions it seemed slightly off - maybe sinister or sadistic was the right word. Or maybe just creepy. _Or maybe he's still mad_. Leo wasn't in the mindset to ponder it too hard. He started wiping down Leo's shoulders and back, brushing away all the clinging, cut-off locks. "You might want to brush your hair out though and then bathe to properly get all this off. Did you want to use mine and big brother's bathroom?"

"That's fine, I'll just go my room and do it," Leo said, politely brushing Vincent's hands away. He took another glance at himself in the mirror. "Um, thank you, Vincent. I appreciate it."

"Well, it's good to see you know who to go to for all your cutting and shredding pleasures," Vincent returned, starting to clean up. He gave Leo a small smile. "I'll be seeing you later then, Mister Leo."

The raven nodded. Just as he was about to leave, he paused in the doorway of the bathroom, turning back. "I didn't mean any offense," he said carefully, and sincerely. Vincent looked up, giving him his attention. "To you, Gilbert, or anyone. I don't mean for it to be offensive. It could be just how I am. But...the thing I was driving at...was just I don't want Elliot to be hurt because of his association with me. With his eye...it's bad enough..."

And then Leo saw it. The world-weariness in Vincent's mismatched eyes, maturing his countenance as the blond stood up. "I understand your reasoning. And I can see how you think I can empathize." He blinked, thinking his statement over. "And I suppose...I do." If there was anything else he wanted to add, he didn't make a move to voice it. Instead, he slowly closed the door, blond bangs hiding whatever expression he had.

Leo took that as much of a dismissal as anything and began his walk back to his room. The snowfall made him feel a bit lethargic, like rain did to some people. Even if Fang and Doug were up for it, he didn't think he'd have it in him to spar properly today.

It certainly did feel strange not to have so much hair in his face. After years of it, he had gotten so used to it, and he kept trying to shake his head to make his now short bangs cover his face, but to not avail. _Aah...I feel naked. But...this is what I want_. At the same time he started going up the stairs, a ruckus was starting to approach him before Lily turned the corner, laughing. She had a silver and gold bundle in her arms of what looked like ribbons, and was tossing it all over the place. Cheshire was right behind her, batting at each of the ribbony material that fell on the floor before pouncing on the next ones Lily would toss out. The chase ended with Alyss and Alice doing their best to quickly coordinate down the stairs, but only bumping heads more than once.

"Alice, if you don't be careful, we'll _both_ fall!" exclaimed Alyss indignantly.

"Why does it always have to be my fault, huh? Half this body is yours! Maybe you're the one who can't keep up with me!" Alice shoved Alyss against the railing of the stairway. Leo shot out a hand to grab Alice's arm before they fell.

"What's all this about?" he asked.

The twins straightened themselves out. Alice looked over at him and gaped. "Shaggy Eyes, what did you do to your hair?" she demanded in appall. Alyss glanced over as well, her lips forming in an approving 'o'.

"Ah? I had Vincent cut it just now."

"You can't do that, you're Shaggy Eyes!" cried Alice, reaching out to tug a strand of his bangs like it'd make it grow long again. Alyss immediately slapped her twin's hand away with a hiss of, "Don't be crass, Alice! Keep your hands to yourself. We need to catch Cheshire."

Relieved when Alice let go, Leo rubbed the spot where she had tugged. "I think following this stuff might help," he supplied, bending down to grab some of the ribbony material off the floor. He blinked, giving it a strange look. What an oddly festive-looking ribbon.

"It's tinsel!" exclaimed a voice below them. Lily was standing there, arms empty now and Cheshire playing at her feet. The gold and silver tinsel was tangled around his arms in hair, getting more tangled the more he swiped at them, all catlike as ever. Lily pet him then looked joyously back at Leo. "Me and Cheshire and the Alices found them in the attic!"

"We have an attic?" Leo deadpanned.

"Of courseeeee?" Lily hopped up the stairs. "We got out a bunch of tinsel because it's December!"

It was one of those rare times when Leo felt about twenty steps behind. "What's that have to do with anything?"

"Is it not a thing here?" Alyss asked with an incredulous blink. "Lily certainly seemed to know what we were talking about."

"Eh?"

"It's a world thing, isn't it? It was always everywhere we went in winter," Alice pointed out. She gestured widely at Leo. "You've never heard of Christmas?"

He raised his brows. Well...of course he had. Leo knew what it was, but only had in recent years really seen any...attempts at townsfolk celebrating it. Pandora was still a rather quiet town, full of grayness and depression. Something like _Christmas_ seemed...really weird. Almost alien. Moreover...what the hell was _tinsel_ in the Baskerville attic? Glen had never celebrated a Christmas as far back as Leo could remember. Of course, back when he was smaller, there had been some years when Glen would give him a new book, or Charlotte some hair accessories - things like that. They never decorated the mansion, however. Or even gotten a tree. So what was the tinsel?

Pushing aside his confusion, Leo watched as Lily came up to him. "We should take all that stuff down from the attic and put it all over the mansion! Everything will be pretty and shiny!" she insisted, jumping up as high as she could, but still only getting up to Leo's chest. Her hands reached up in attempt to touch his newly cut hair.

Leo laughed. "We can...certainly try it," he said. Even if he refused to take part in it, he had a feeling Lily would do everything she could to drag him in anyhow. It was just the sort of conviction she had when she was excited. In a weird way, her childish excitement was refreshing. It seemed like too much time had passed for anything light to happen in the Baskerville household.

_And perhaps this is irresponsible thinking considering what might happen in a few days_, rethought Leo. He shook the notion aside. Just because he was making plans to go to the land of fire and brimstone didn't mean he should put a dark cloud over the whole mansion. Besides, this would be a good way to keep everyone who was left behind busy. _And maybe happy_.

Leo played with the tinsel in his hands, looping it around his finger. "We're going to need a lot more than this though if we're going to decorate this whole dusty place," he pointed out.

Pleased with his answer, Lily cried out happily. "There's more, lots more upstairs in the attic! Let's get Echo and Philippe and the others we can all decorate!" She was already heading up the stairs, spinning once she got to the top. "We should get a tree, too! If we get Fang and Doug, they can cut us down a hugeeee tree!"

"Ah, one thing at a time, Lily," Leo said to her retreating form. He smiled fondly and he followed Cheshire and the twins as they went after the small Baskerville.

Something grabbed his attention once he joined the others in the hallway, making all of them freeze.

Streaming through the window came a burst of lavender light, shimmering and illuminating all the backyard. Leo dashed outside, Lily, the twins, and Cheshire right behind him. They stumbled out, nearly falling on top of one another but Leo kept his balance. The snow was still falling lazily, piling on more frost onto the ground - except for one area before them, where a circle had been freshly cleared of snow, exposing the cold earth. It was a fairly wide circle, looking three feet in radius - and there, standing in the middle of it, was Xerxes.

"Did you just use another one of those magick circles of yours?" asked Leo breathlessly, half-incredulous. "Like the one we got into back in Sablier?"

Easygoing as ever, Xerxes nonchalantly stepped to the side, seeming to ignore Leo's comment and the others as well. He tapped the center of the circle with the cane he always carried with him, holding up a finger. "Just a moment," he lilted, waiting expectantly.

Leo and the others stared at the circle, which had in the next second begun to glow once more, signs Leo only knew vaguely of appearing in the clearing until they shone so bright he had to look away. When he did open his eyes, someone else was trembling there right next to Xerxes - or rather, something. What was on his knees, looking skittishly from one person to the next was certainly not a human, but...

"A revenant," breathed the raven with wide eyes. It had the deathly pallor, the grey robe and the blood-red hair. It even reeked of death, making Cheshire hiss slightly, his cat ears bent back. The twins and Lily exclaimed in slight awe, having never seen the creature presented before them before. Leo stared at the revenant as Xerxes hoisted him up, and it was then he realized the revenant was bound somehow - some sort of struggle must have happened; its hands were behind him, and wide red eyes glanced at them fearfully.

"Is that a different one than the pair we saw in Sablier?" asked Leo curiously, trying to get a better look at the revenant. He twitched a bit as Leo and the others came closer.

"He certainly is," Xerxes said as casually as if they were discussing a pet. The way he had his hand around the revenant's bicep, he might as well have been.

"We caught one, we caught one~!" cried Emily joyously, making the revenant flinch.

"P-please make that thing stop talking."

The doll shuddered in displeasure. "Thing!?" she exclaimed in disbelief. "I am not a thing! Rude! How rude!"

At that time, Lily had come up in front of Leo, and was now tugging the worn robe of the creature. "What's your name, Mister Revenant?" she inquired curiously, gazing up with her wide eyes.

For a good minute, he stood there, looking quite lost as to why Lily would ask something so innocently random. The others had quieted down attentively to hear his answer. Finally, after darting his eyes around, he murmured, "A-Arthur... The Other Brother."

As if taking that to be a cue, Xerxes led them all forward into the mansion once more, smiling. "Can you believe it, Mister Leo?" he began. The others began to follow, with Lily right at Arthur's heels, beaming up at him. Cheshire was still giving the revenant quite the distrustful look, but calmed down with some petting from Alyss. "After thinking it over for so long, I could not believe I never thought of going through a graveyard. A place of death, was it not? Ah, I am still chastising myself for it! So Emily and I have been graveyard-hopping, going from one to the next in search of our dear friends. And lo! After a few hours, we find them there in the middle of a freshly dug grave!"

"Lovely," deadpanned Leo with an unsure smile. "So why do you have just, ah, Arthur here?"

"Well, we only need one," Xerxes returned plainly. "That's what that Rufus and Miranda told us."

Leo noticed Arthur hunch his back a bit and bow his head as Xerxes said those names. He didn't have long to ponder over it when he paid more attention to the silveret's claim. "They told you? They actually told you we can use... There's a way to Hell with them helping us?" he asked.

"Indeed. Oh, nice haircut, by the way," Xerxes said with a teasing smile.

The raven flushed slightly, tugging the end strands of his now shorter bangs. "Thanks. Vincent did it," he murmured. He glanced up at Xerxes. "So...?"

"What's this about Hell? And what's a revenant?" began Alice from the back. "Moreover, how did that clowny bastard do that glowy stuff from before?"

Their little procession stopped for a bit, and for the first time, Xerxes seemed to truly notice that the circus freaks were there. "Oh my, you were listening to all that scariness?" he gasped. "You'll get some nightmares for sure."

A vein at Alice's neck jumped as she grimaced deeply at him in annoyance. "Are you treating me like some brat?"

"Not like. Exactly like one," Xerxes deadpanned with a huge smile. "Why don't you all be dears and leave me with Mister Leo here? This is quite some grown-up talk we're about to begin."

Alice scowled, but Alyss shushed her before her twin could make an outburst. "Fine, we'll leave," Alyss relented, turning the two girls around despite Alice's frustrated growls. Cheshire followed them without complaint, making sure to stay close enough that Alyss could reach out and pet him every few steps. Only Lily remained then, and she stood rooted to the spot with a smile.

Leo laughed a bit at her confident stance. "You know that includes you too," he said, trying to get her to follow the others.

Lily looked at him in shock. "But I'm not a child! I can handle grown up things, too!" she protested fervently, getting out of Leo's reach to stand indignantly next to Arthur. She stomped her foot down. "I'm a Baskerville!"

Leo bent down in front of her. "It's not that you can't handle it," the raven tried to reassure her. "It's just that it's something between me and Xerxes right now."

A pout formed on Lily's lips as she muttered, "But you're gonna tell Fang and Doug later, aren't you?" She looked down, pout growing as her hand gripped a bit of Arthur's robe. "It's because I'm not going, isn't it...? So it's a secret."

As bad as he felt about keeping Lily out of the loop, he also knew it was for the best. But she understood that, and it was something Leo was grateful for, and he nodded. "That's right, it's a secret. So why don't you go look for Philippe and play for a bit?"

The displeasure was still crossed on her face, but after a second more, Lily sighed. Her hand dropped from Arthur's robe, but she hopped in front of him. "Bye, Mister Arthur. Let's play later, okay?" She didn't give him a chance to answer as the revenant stood there awkwardly, watching the young Baskerville disappear in the other direction.

Xerxes, who had watched the events wordlessly, chomped down noisily on the lollipop in his hands. Leo didn't know when, where, or how he got it, but at this point in their companionship, he had long since grown used to Xerxes' ability to make things just appear. He knew it made the silveret annoyed how Leo could just accept these sorts of things. Leaning over near the raven, he said, "I believe more private quarters are in order. Not only to discuss the events of this day, but also to keep our new friend. I'm assuming there is such a place in this mansion?"

Only one obvious place came to mind. Leo was about to say something about it when the floorboards creaked, switching his attention over to Elliot, who stood at the top of the staircase. His brows arched at the new sight of Arthur, but he made no move to go any closer to them. He shuffled awkwardly when he and the raven locked gazes.

"I, ah," he cleared his throat. "Vanessa said she saw some bright light outside. I came down to see what was the matter."

"Oh. That would have been Xerxes' magick circles she had seen," Leo replied, as surely as if the silveret wasn't even there to answer for himself. The corner of his lips twitched in an attempt to a small smile.

Elliot nodded. "Found the revenant," he remarked, but not looking at Arthur.

A blush, slightly embarrassed, filled Leo's cheek at Elliot's piercing stare. How he hated that blue eye right then. "Don't worry. We're going down to the - the dungeon. He'll be there, so if anyone is worried or anything like that..." Not that Arthur seemed malicious in the first place. He sort of lacked that ominous air that his siblings had. Elliot probably saw it too, but the blond only hummed a bit.

"Suppose I should leave you both to it then," he said. His body rocked slightly, and Leo thought he was going to move towards them, but at the last moment, Elliot pulled back. He nodded down the hallway. "I'll tell the others then. Think a few others than my sister might've seen the lights."

"Sounds good," agreed the raven mildly.

But Elliot was still lingering. It was only after he realized Elliot was gazing _right into_ his eyes rather than the general area of them that Leo felt naked again. Elliot blurted the obvious - "You cut your hair." His eye was tracing all over Leo's now visible face, seemingly unaware of how eager his stare was. The raven's blush deepened as he nodded, and Elliot cleared his throat. "You look...nice. Good. Looks good. Real good. Um. I'll...see to the others then."

"Okay," was all Leo could get out, feeling more awkward by the second. Only when Elliot was finally out of sight did Leo feel like he could breathe again. He exhaled, suddenly feeling exhausted. On the one hand, he was half-fooling himself into believing everything was okay now. It certainly seemed like Elliot had taken things...lightly. _Okay, and that's the problem_. He would have felt a lot better if Elliot had at least _looked_ cross with him.

_This sucks_...

Suddenly aware that Xerxes and Arthur were looking squarely at him, he quickly roused himself back to reality. "This way," he instructed in a mutter, rushing past the two towards the kitchen. He chose to ignore Xerxes' chuckle behind him.

In the kitchen was a small, slightly decrepit door off in one corner that led to the dungeons. Leo took the box of matches sitting in one of the drawers and lit up the lantern that was hung on the other side of the door, holding it high as he lead the way down the stone stairs. Arthur hesitated at the top, but stumbled along with one insistent tug from Xerxes, who left the door open behind them. It wasn't too terribly dark, but the shadows flickering from the light grew more menacing the more they descended down before ending up at the bottom, where a larger, wider door stood coldly.

Taking the hint, Xerxes held the lantern as Leo pulled off the plank of wood crossed over the door and opened it, the iron hinges shrieking. Leo turned on the gaslamps littered around the room until light filled the dungeon.

The Baskervilles had made quite a use of this place during their many investigations and erradications of the Cannibal Marionettes. Blood had become such a common stain in these walls that no one bothered to clean the puddles off the walls or floor anymore, and now they shown almost black in the light. A few tables and cabinets full of various kinds of medical equipment stood inside, slowly gathering dust from the past month of no use. Leo's dark eyes glanced over every sharp instrument and torture device a second too long, remembering times they had been used, times they had been in the hands of him and the other Baskervilles - and the screams that would follow their use. Oh yes, being down here brought back quite the memories.

Xerxes whistled. "Leave it to Crimson Fausts to have such a terrifying place in their quarters," he remarked in amazement.

"Hope you don't mind the mess," returned Leo, taking a seat on top of one of the metal tables. He nodded over to Arthur. "So, are you going to fill me in on what he's all about? You never did explain anything when Emily made that suggestion about revenants."

Arthur was giving Emily a disapproving look, like he wasn't surprised the talking doll was the reason he stood in the dangerous dungeon in the first place. "Can you let me go yet," he muttered in a gravelly voice. "You've me as prisoner. I can't go anywhere."

"Dunno if I trust you in this place. That sister of yours seemed quite fond of sharp things, and I don't want to know if you have the same fascination... Ah yes." Xerxes let him go then took his cane in his hands once more. In the empty space where Arthur stood, he drew a circle around him, quickly sketching out shapes and symbols around it. At the very end, they glowed a faint blue color before disappearing completely.

_A barrier_? Leo guessed. Arthur either didn't seem to keen on experimenting the function of Xerxes' circle, or already knew and chose to slowly take a seat on the bloodstained floor. With the aura of death and torture in the air, Leo wondered if the revenant felt at home. Maybe not, if his light scowl was anything to go by.

"My siblings really gave me up for this," he murmured, scowl deepening. He looked more like some resentful human than some placid creature like Rufus and Miranda were. Seeing that he had Leo's attention, and that Xerxes wasn't interrupting him, he spoke lowly, "They knew how to make a gateway to Hell, and neither of them wanted to be the ones to make it, of course. So they called me out and gave me over to...this man and his doll."

"It's a sacrifice," explained Xerxes easily to Leo, leaning back on the wall. "Revenants are beings nearly overflowing with death magick. You could say they're almost _composed_ of it. If anyone has access to the underworld, it's them."

Leo frowned. "How does it give them access?"

Xerxes raised his brows. "Didn't you hear me? This chap here is our sacrifice. If we kill him, out comes all that dark, deathly magick. Set that magick down a certain channel, and inevitably a gate to Hell will open. As for that channel, it will be the gate we destroyed back in Sablier. It may be broken now, but if we slay our revenant before it, it will repair with his magick, and only for as long as his magick lasts before running out."

"So it won't be like we fully fixed the gate. Just enough for us to get through," Leo said to make sure. At Xerxes' curt nod, Leo turned to Arthur. He wished his eyes hadn't locked onto the revenant's. It made his insides squirm just a bit. He hadn't known that there would be a method to open a gate that involved..._killing_ someone, human or not. Of course, it did make sense, but the idea - the _reality_ - that that was what they'd have to do made Leo...uncomfortable, to say the least.

The door burst open upstairs, interrupting them. Frantic footsteps soon followed, and after that the door a few feet from them came open, revealing an out-of-breath Sharon, her hands curled around her gathered skirts. Both males looked at her in surprise.

"X-Xerxes!" she gasped. "I heard...heard you were back...!"

"Why, yes, I did indeed just arrive but a few minutes ago," replied Xerxes, still fixated on Sharon in amazement. "My lady, it really wasn't a cause to run all the way down here..."

Her cheeks flushed as she stomped her foot indignantly. "N-nonsense! When I heard that you had..." Her eyes glanced over behind the two, staring at Arthur. Immediately she seemed to forget being cross with Xerxes as she slowly came over. "Oh my... Is that him?"

"I-I very much do not appreciate being treated like some beast under observation," Arthur stammered, but giving each of the three a very stern look. Somehow, Leo liked him a lot better than Rufus and Miranda. Arthur had quite the character. He really would be sad to kill him. Although he did know the situation Arthur was in was sad, the raven couldn't find too many reasons for it to be on his conscience. Years in the business of torture, killing, and obtaining his goals using all methods at his disposal had taken any sympathetic nature he might have had.

Sharon pressed the tips of her fingers against her lips, simply staring at Arthur. Leo couldn't understand the fascination she had with him. Then again, despite her pretty face and innocent airs, Leo knew that Sharon was as twisted as the rest of them. He heard the stories from Elliot of cutting herself simply because she could - or rather, cut _off_ parts of herself. She had all her limbs and her body was whole now, but that was entirely thanks to her remarkable regenerative abilities - an attribute that helped her during that night in Sablier, if her recount was anything to go by.

_Oh, right_. Leo remembered right then - Sharon had come personally face-to-face with Miranda, who had given Sharon the means to escape in the first place. _Maybe she thinks Arthur is like his sister_.

"This is Arthur," Leo finally introduced. It didn't look like Sharon would snap out of her examination herself.

"Our escort to Hell!" sang Emily, making Arthur grimace.

Her eyes finally tore away from Arthur, going up to Emily and Xerxes' face, who nodded approvingly. If it was supposed to be a settling gesture, Sharon didn't feel it. Her lips twisted in a slight grimace before she finally straightened up. "So it's true then. You'll kill this revenant and the gate will open." As far as Leo knew, Sharon wasn't going down with them to the mission. But seeing Xerxes and Sharon in the same room, the raven was beginning to doubt the silveret could've refused her.

"That's right," agreed Xerxes.

Sharon smoothed her skirts over, taking a dignified breath. "I'm sorry, I'm going to borrow Xerxes for a moment," she told Leo, offering him a small smile as she grabbed the silveret's sleeve and led them out the door. It closed with a creak behind them.

Well. He supposed he should make himself at home in the dungeon then. Biting the inside of his cheek, Leo crossed his ankles and glanced over at where Arthur was sitting silently. It was almost meditative, how silent and still he was. It made Leo slightly uneasy. "You're not going to struggle?" he asked, more out of astonishment than curiosity.

Blinking slowly several times, Arthur looked over at Leo. When he finally seemed to process the question, he only said, "I don't see the point of it. That man knows magick. And even if I did escape, I see no point in rejoining my siblings."

"That's a funny thing to say though," Leo said, tilting his head. "When we all were in Sablier, we only saw Miranda and Rufus."

Arthur shrugged. "I was there as well, on that island the entire time. It just so happens that half-demon boy only used them. I would say maybe they did this out of spite for me, but I knew they wouldn't bend to the will of a half-breed like that. More to the point, I was never particularly _liked_ by them."

"So even revenants have family drama," said Leo lightly, bending to put his elbows on his knees and cup his face.

"I do believe that's the closest correlated term for it, I suppose," agreed Arthur, sighing. He laid on the floor, and it was hard to tell what was his hair and what was another stain. He could've been confused for a freshly killed victim, someone Leo would've taken down for information.

The more Leo stared, the more intrigued he was. It didn't look like human emotions or thoughts applied much to the revenants, and even Arthur didn't seem fully humanlike with his expressions and actions either. Did that mean... "You aren't going to fight this? You're just...going to let us use you like this?"

After a full minute of silence, Arthur turned his head to face Leo. His eyes held an unsettling and uncharacteristic gleam to them, something utterly serious and dark within the bloody pools. "Revenants don't die," he began. "That's simply how we are. Yet all the time...during all our life, we are surrounded by death. If it's one thing I've been curious to know... It's the experience of death." The contemplation left his expression, replaced with something more troubled as he turned to the ceiling. "The drawback to that is, once I experience that, it's the end of all experiences. I don't want to die. But that man is right. Death has been inside me all along. If my body is just some fragile egg, then what's the purpose in holding anything? In the end, maybe my sister will be playing with _my_ skull."

Admittedly, Leo had lost track of the conversation about halfway through. He supposed his view of death was just different from Arthur's. But...he did see a few points he had that the raven had thought about before. Leo had tortured many people before, on this very table he sat on as a matter of fact. He'd seen the life leave eyes, felt bodies grow cold - all done because he had been the one to cut of those strings holding people to life. He knew how easy it was to snuff out a life like a candle's flickering light being blown out.

For Crimson Fausts and revenants, Leo supposed, death was just in the occupation description.

Putting someone to sleep or putting them in the coffin - what was the difference?

* * *

**Ending A/N**: I feel so bad for doing this to Arthur. He's literally my favorite Barma, and I go and do this to him (I swear I'm treating him a lot better in my Jackwald fic). Meanwhile, Elliot had such a small appearance this chapter, dear me -shot a million times- I'm gomen.

I can't tell what is and isn't some major form of progression in the story anymore. Of course, every little bit counts! But expect the first signs of shit hitting the fan next chapter (pretty sure next chapter, yeah? What is this, I can't even say what will and won't happen, my goodness. Who am I talking to even -shot-). It was kind of fun writing this chapter as it begins to storm outside - the thunder and darkness was honed in for this chapter, bwahahaha (you're not making sense again, Hitsugi-san, please stop). I tried not to think during this chapter and just let the words come as they will. Hopefully that worked in this fic's favor.

Review/comment/critique, perhaps?


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